Borrowed
by SailorCopperOwl
Summary: "Rei just didn't know what one talked about with a boy. Or an enemy. Former enemy. And it seemed like Jadeite wasn't a great talker either."
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I know, I know... I should be updating Night Jade instead of making new stories. I will! Next chapter almost done and I hope to submit it this weekend!**

**For now... this is Rei/Jadeite again, but a different approach. For White Jade and Night Jade, I made Jadeite more capable and mature (probably more than could be justified from the series ;D). It works for the stories, and allowes for a robust handling of both Rei and Jadeite, and for a lot of fun. **

**But I was always wondering about going the opposite direction... and I was wondering how those two would work in a story where Jadeite is well... for a lack of a better word... and in spite of my general dislike of the concept ;D... **_**fluffy.**_

**It turned out I liked this approach, too, and scenes piled up... so I give you a start into a slow and cautious Rei/Jadeite story. More chapters coming up, although I can't say when as this is what I write when I should write something else ;D (Yes, thank you, "then you should update all the time", whoever it was over there, I heard you very well ;D). But as it is now, I think it's already a nice read. **

**Enjoy, and please comment!**

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* * *

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The first time Rei saw him in Tokyo was some time after Usagi had returned to the restored Earth due to their memories of her.

She was walking home, when she suddenly stopped at the sight of someone sitting on a bench, someone who was unmistakable even from the corner of her eyes, and her stomach clenched. Enemy! But then she told herself not to be silly. Usagi had told them over and over they weren't enemies any more. He sat hunched and looked tired, a boy in jeans and t-shirt, noone to be afraid of.

Come on, Hino, she thought. New times, new rules. Be nice to him. Show him you're not afraid, or mad.

"Hey, Jadeite," she said as she walked over to him and stood before him, still keeping some respectful distance. Just in case.

He looked up, surprised, round-eyed. Oh god, he still had these blue eyes, and the ridiculous blond hair, but without a dagger and the attitude that came with it, he looked ten years younger than what she remembered, and that had been young enough already.

Look at his hands, and feet, she realized, they're so huge, like a puppy's, I bet he's still growing.

He's just a kid, and he's lost in our world, she thought, and the thought was unsettling. Somehow, this was not how it should be.

When he spoke, his voice was different, too. Deep, but soft and light as a feather.

"Mars."

He sounded like he was about to panic any minute.

She smiled at him reassuringly.

"It's Rei now. And you, any other name?"

He shook his head.

For a while, noone of them said anything. Rei just didn't know what one talked about with a boy. Or an enemy. Former enemy. And it seemed like Jadeite wasn't a great talker either.

He turned his head away.

"You don't have to talk to me if you don't want to," he said embarassed.

Rei sneered. "Don't worry. I'm not known for doing things I don't want to do."

She put her hands into the pockets of her jacket and stood there, shooting him a look that was supposed to make certain she wasn't going to let him tell her what she had to do or not. The effort was wasted on him, he had dropped his gaze to the ground, his feet to tense that he dug his toes into the ground.

"mumblemumble... what I did in the Dark Kingdom... mumble mumble..." he breathed.

"Ts," said Rei coolly. "You must be pretty full of yourself to think you've been able to impress me that much."

Now he looked up in surprise. his big blue eyes staring at her again.

"What?" he asked.

Rei raised an eyebrow.

"What did you expect? That I'm shaking from fear? That every evening I check my closet or under my bed if there is a monster or a stupid Shitennou hiding under it because you scared me so? Ha! The nerve!"

A slight smile lifted the corners of his mouth. It was a smile without warmth, but it was a smile at least.

Another awkward silence followed, Rei searched her brain for something to say.

There had been a meeting between the Sailor senshi and the Shitennou where the Shitennou had formally apologized. The senshi had accepted their apologies, but in the cases of Jadeite or Kunzite there wasn't a lot of honest forgiveness Rei could bring herself to. Since then, she hadn't seen any of them. The thought that they were walking around town was... odd.

"And, what are you doing here?" she finally came up with.

"I'm waiting for the Master."

The Master... Mars had never heard him call Mamoru that before. She was surprised. But of course, if Jadeite was good now...

"So you're working for Mamoru now?"

He nodded, and when she looked at him questioningly, he added: "Destiny..." and shrugged.

He seemed to be pretty indifferent about it. Not hating it, but not being overly enthusiastic either.

Rei would have liked to ask him lots of questions, like: How long have you been back? What is it you're doing now for Mamoru? How do you get along here? How much do you remember? What happened after I last saw you in the Dark Kingdom? How did you... die?

But that were hardly things to discuss when meeting someone in the street, especially if that someone wasn't very talkative, so she just said:

"And... are you okay?"

He was surprised again.

"What do you mean?"

She shrugged. He didn't really look okay to her.

"Well, you know," she said hesitantly, "... new life, old memories... I remember how it took Ami a while to settle back in when we got her back... and this is not exactly the Silver Millenium either..."

He glanced nervously to the side.

Then he realized that an answer was expected from him.

"It's... it's okay here. Nice planet... Interesting times..."

Rei frowned. "These are obviously supposed to be compliments, yes?"

Again, he was puzzled."Sort of, yeah."

Another pause. Rei couldn't for the world think of anything else to say. She wasn't good at small talk. She talked to someone when she had something to say. She felt like she should have something to say to Jadeite, but she had no idea what it was.

It was Jadeite who finally found something to say.

"Rei...?" he said.

"Yes?"

He looked worried. "Just for the records, I never was under your bed."

Rei grinned. "Would have been a bit difficult anyway, with me sleeping on the floor. And coming to think of it, I don't have a closet either."

She realized this wasn't the coolest thing to say.

"This is silly, Jadeite. Why are we discussing my bedroom?"

For the first time, a genuinely amused smile lifted the corner of his mouth.

"Dunno...No idea why you'd bring it up the moment you saw me... but go ahead..."

That made Rei laugh. It was good to see there was still some nasty bastard left inside him.

"You wish," she sneered.

For a moment, they were grinning at each other.

Then, very suddenly, the smile dropped off Jadeite's face, and Rei for a moment didn't understand why.

A voice in her back greeted her.

"Hello, Rei!"

"Ah, Mamoru, hello!"

Mamoru came closer.

"Trying to cheer up Jadeite, hm? Sorry he isn't very talkative lately."

"Just gave him the virtual tour of my bedroom, " said Rei dryly. "Can't see how this could have been improved by a guy's comments."

Jadeite actually grinned at this, although a lot thinner than before.

"Wow, I can't believe he smiled at your joke. He never does that at mine."

Rei didn't like the hurt tone in Mamoru's voice that shone through his joking, and she didn't like the embarassed look on Jadeite either.

"Oh, come on, Mamoru," she said. "Noone ever laughs about your jokes, except Zoisite and we all know he just takes pity on you, or has probably his head so full of music that he didn't hear what you were saying in the first place."

Jadeite grinned again, and Mamoru was embarassed for a second at least.

Rei liked that a lot better.

She accompanied the two guys to Mamoru's motorbike that was parked nearby. Rei who knew nothing about motorbikes had to admit it was really cool. She was surprised about the disgusted look that Jadeite gave it, and his hesitation to put on the helmet that Mamoru had handed him over.

"I liked it better when we had horses," he said and shot Rei a grim look. "Try protecting someone while he is driving that."

"Hey, I told you, it's safe. I'm going to drive extra carefully." Mamoru defended his beloved bike.

Jadeite put on his helmet and fastened the closure.

"There's a reason humans aren't supposed to have an exoskeleton and move faster than the eye can follow, we have cockroach youmas for that," he sneered, and sat behind Mamoru on the bike.

"Says the guy who does Kamen Rider video marathons every other night," grinned Mamoru and started the engine.

He sat on his bike, waited until Jadeite had seated himself behind him and held onto him, then he lifted a hand to wave Rei goodbye.

Jadeite didn't, and he didn't look back when they drove away.


	2. Chapter 2

"I saw Jadeite in town today," Rei said lightly when the former senshi met later that day.

"I know," squealed Usagi and beamed at her. "Mamoru called me just to tell me how Jadeite has been talking to you, and how he was even smiling and joking. He couldn't believe it!"

Rei rolled her eyes and ignored the grins of the other girls. "There's no need to make such a big deal out of it. I just said hi when I saw him. It was only a few words we exchanged. What's so special about it?"

"But Jadeite never smiles these days! And he doesn't talk either. He's all "yes, princess" or "no, princess", and "I'm sorry, princess". The other Shitennou are so worried about him."

"Why, what's wrong with him?" asked Makoto.

"Well... now that he isn't under Queen Beryl's curse any more, he has all these memories that haunt him... and he feels guilty for the things he did. It's really sad. I sometimes tell him that he shouldn't be so down about it, that he didn't have a choice. But it's no good. He's just like "yes, princess" and then Kunzite says something like "a guardian always has a choice" and Jadeite is even unhappier."

"Creepy," said Makoto.

"Not sane," said Minako.

"Of course he would be traumatized," said Ami, in a voice that was softer than ever, "He's always been the most compassionate one. Remember how we saw him react on Nephrite's death, even under the curse... and Dark Energy made him do terrible things... "

Ami speaking of Dark Energy silenced them all. Ami felt very uncomfortable with everyone suddenly looking at her.

"Uhm, I mean..." she stuttered, "it just makes sense he's a bit... troubled..."

"Not sane. Not safe. You should stay away from him, Rei," said Minako.

"Excuse me..." started Rei who didn't like to be told what to do or not. But Usagi was faster.

"No, Minako-chan," she said. "No. Rei did the right thing. Matters between the Sailor Senshi and the Shitennou need to improve. You shouldn't act around them like they were still enemies. We're on the same side now.

If Jadeite has been normal for the first five minutes of his new life around Rei, and I punish him for it by telling him it was wrong and shouldn't happen again... I don't even want to think what it would do to him... or the other boys... they try to get a grip, they really do. Everyone, let's support them some more."

And Rei, who had never thought that a plan from Usagi would meet her full approval, found herself nodding.

* * *

Rei didn't exactly look out for a ridiculous blond head when she went to town. But only once or twice she caught a glimpse of him following Mamoru, always too far away to talk to them.


	3. Chapter 3

The next time she met him he was sitting on the same bench as before, looking just as lost. Rei was almost embarassed how happy she was to have an excuse to stop and talk to him. Anything but hurry to where she didn't want to be.

Apparently, she got better at the strange concept of talking to a boy, because this time they made it through at least three sentences before the awkward pause set in.

Out of spontanity, or out of despair, or just because talking to him made her feel better, she suddenly asked:

"Do you have some time, Jadeite? Maybe an hour or so?" She had tried to sound casually, but her voice sounded too funny for it. Jadeite nodded slowly, looking at her questioningly.

"Could you... come with me?" continued Rei. She had to be quick before her courage would leave her again. "I could do with some help. But you have to promise me you won't laugh. And please don't tell anyone."

She rememberd Usagi's words, how Jadeite wasn't much into laughing and talking any more. That was very sad and all, but right now, Rei needed exactly that.

To her surprise, Jadeite didn't ask questions. He just got up from the bench, ready to leave.

"I guess the Master won't be back early..." he said, with slight hesitation.

"We can let him know where you are," said Rei, and when he nodded again, she took our her cell phone and left Usagi a message for Mamoru. Then she set the phone on mute and buried it in the deepest pocket of her coat, so she wouldn't have to answer the one hundred calls and texts from Usagi that would certainly follow.

"OK, Jadeite, this isn't going to take very long, I hope. I'll behave very strange and totally embarassing, and I don't want to hear about it ever again when it's over. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Very well."

Rei sighed very deeply. Now that Jadeite was with her, she couldn't find excuses any more. This time, she'd have to do it.

Technically, that meant she could hate him now, right?

Yes, definitely. Anyone who made her do that was a bastard.

Stupid Jadeite.

Yes, it helped a bit.

* * *

"Hello, Miss Hino, glad you could make it today! We've been waiting for you. Everything's ready so we can start right away. Follow me."

Rei paled and grabbed Jadeite's arm. "Don't leave me alone with her! I need you to sit there, nothing else. Just someone I can curse, and someone who keeps me from dashing out of the door again... oh man, this is so embarassing, but please don't leave!"

Jadeite just nodded and let himself be dragged into the room that strongly smelled of disinfectants.

"Hello Miss Hino. Nice to see you."

"Hello Dr. Misato," said Rei meekly. "Nice to see you too..."

"So you brought some moral support. Very well, this is going to be a great help. This young man isn't your boyfriend, by any chance?"

Rei made a meek denying sound.

"I see. Now please sit down and open your mouth, and let's see what we can do to save that molar."

Rei made another meek sound, but she sat into the big dentist's chair.

She obediently opened her mouth, but she was all stiff and cramped up from fear. Already, she had a death grip on the handrests of the chair, and the dentist hadn't done more than have a look yet. Jadeite watched with his eyebrows twisted in worry, his hair haloing around his face more ridiculously than ever, and his mouth twitching every now and then. He didn't seem to like this any more than her. But he was there. Then Jadeite put his hand on hers, and suddenly, everything was that much better. No Shitennou had ever touched her, she could feel the incredible energy level that was so different from other humans, it was just the right thing to calm her down. I have brought my personal guardian, she thought, and he's armed, ten kinds of obnoxious, filled to the brim with magic, cuddles with demons, and you wouldn't want to mess with him.

That was definitely better. She moved her hand so she could hold his, for feeling extra certain his hand would be there all the time.

* * *

Rei took a deep breath as soon as they were out of the dentist's.

"Ah, I did it, I feel like I could fly," she sighed and smiled, although she felt creepy with half of her jaw being numb. "Come on, Jadeite, there's something else you need to do for me!"

"Er... yes?"

His puzzled face made her laugh. Okay, everything would have made her laugh because she was so happy now that it was over. But he looked so clueless and out of place right now, with civilian clothes and with this ridiculous hair, and probably even more relieved than her to leave this place, it was quite the sight to cheer her up.

"Here, you need to drink this cup of coffee for me," she said when she had gotten him one out of a vending machine. "I'm not allowed to eat or drink for a while, and I need one right now. So I guess you have to have it."

That made him smile.

"I see..."

They found a quiet place to sit down, and this time the silence wasn't as awkward.

"I really appreciate that you were there," said Rei after a while. "And, Jadeite... could we keep this a secret between us? I don't want everyone to know about it..."

"Sure." He took a sip of his coffee. "They wouldn't believe it anyway. Not certain I understood myself what happened. Did I really watch someone drill holes into your teeth?"

He shuddered involuntarily, so hard that he spilled some of his coffee.

Rei was puzzled, but then it dawned on her.

"Sorry..." she said. "I thought you knew what a dentist is."

"I must have known, but most of my memories are lost." He looked at her and made a face like he had bitten into a lemon. "What did you do that for? Nephrite has explained us about the whole tattoo thing, and I got that because, yeah, it looks really cool, but... Who needs holes in their teeth?"

"I'm really sorry," said Rei, looking at him. She was surprised that this sentence came natural to her, it usually didn't. But it was really a bit embarassing to see how upset he was about it. "It's a treatment against tooth decay. If the decayed parts are removed, the rest of the tooth stops rotting. Well, hopefully..."

"Did it hurt a lot?" asked Jadeite. Rei was embarassed by the concern in his voice, and his eyes. I don't need no Shitennou to pity me, she thought, but actually, he sounded rather admiring.

"No, but..." How could she explain it? "Actually, it doesn't hurt at all, because they give you this anestetics that make your mouth go numb and you don't feel a thing. But it doesn't make a difference. I react to the sounds and the smells, and even if I can't feel the pain, I know someone is messsing with my teeth, and that it _should_ hurt like hell any second... and it acutally hurts a lot before I go there, because I always wait until it's absolutely unbearable and only dying would be worse than the dentist, which makes the whole experience even worse... oh man, you must think I'm the most pathetic girl on earth. Quite the senshi I am, huh?"

Jadeite looked into his coffee and smiled.

"Everyone has their little secret weakness," he said. "You're not fooling me into underestimating you, Sailor Mars."

What's yours? Rei wanted to ask, but somehow, she thought she had asked enough already from him today.

"I told you, it's only Rei... and... thanks again... you did really well for someone not knowing what was going on."

Congrats, Hino, she thought, catchy phrase, gotta remember it so you can finish any first date with it... it's a date if you have coffee, right? Even if your datee is spilling his coffee from repulsion...

"If I can repay you that favour one day, don't hesitate to ask."

Jadeite made a doubtful face.

"I guess I'm more determined now than ever to keep all my teeth the way they are," he said. "But thanks."

* * *

"_'Sorry, but I need to borrow your guardian for a while'?_" was Mamoru's greeting when they came back to the place where she had picked up Jadeite. He was already there, waiting. Rei had a suspicion that he had been rushing there as soon as he had gotten Usagi's message. She was a bit annoyed, because she had tried to be punctual so Jadeite wouldn't run into trouble.

Kunzite was with Mamoru, and shot them a smug look. "Now what would the senshi of passion want to borrow Jadeite for, I wonder?" he said with a smirk.

"Sorry, can't tell you," she said. "It's private."

Kunzite sneered, with an amused undertone that got under Rei's skin.

"What's all the fuss about?" she added, "It's not like he had anything useful to do, and hey, you got him back in one piece."

She turned to the boy.

"Thank you, Jadeite," she said and stood on the tips of her toes to murmur into his ear, just loud enough so that Mamoru and Kunzite could hear it very well. "I really needed that." For a moment, she took his hand and squeezed a silent thank you into it.

"My pleasure, Rei" replied Jadeite, a mischievous little smirk crawling onto his face.

"Remember, Jadeite, no word to anyone," whispered Rei into his ear, this time voiceless so the nosy company around them couldn't hear it.

He nodded.

"Of course."

Rei went to have a miserable afternoon all by herself, waiting for her mouth to get back to normal. She usually wiped dentist memories out of her brain as soon as possible, but this one... this one she would keep.


	4. Chapter 4

"Rei-chaaaan!" squealed Usagi as soon as Rei entered their room in the Crown karaoke bar. "Finally! Please, you must tell me, what did you need to borrow Jadeite for?"

"What?" said Minako and shot her a suspicious glance.

"Jadeite?" Makoto laughed.

Ami just looked at Rei very thoroughly, then she smiled.

"I didn't know we can borrow Shitennou," said Minako. "That's actually very interesting. Out with it, Mars Reiko, what did you borrow him for?"

Rei made a stern face. "I'm not going to tell you. It's private."

"What?"

"Oh, come on!"

"Erm... Rei-chan? Is that your answer? Because you know, Mamoru asks me a lot of questions. What am I going to tell him? You took him to do something private?"

"Exactly. It's absolutely none of his business. Or yours."

"Rei-chaaan! Please! Tell us what you did!"

Usagi was about to implode, so hard did she try to suck compassion out of Rei with her suffering expressions.

But Rei wasn't that easily molten down.

"There's nothing to tell."

"Nothing to tell? Rei-chan! You were holding hands with him! You probably even kissed him, Mamoru isn't certain..."

"She what?" gasped the other three.

"I didn't kiss him!"

"They definitely held hands," repeated Usagi triumphantly. "Right in front of Kunzite and Mamoru!"

"I did neither!" defended Rei her dignity. "I just whispered something into his ear. Everything else is just the heated imagination of too many boys in one spot. And you should have seen their faces," grinned Rei.

"You took Jadeite for some private time and whispered things into his ear?" asked Minako disapprovingly.

"And Mamoru says she gave him a tour of her bedroom!"

"He totally misunderstood that, and I bet it was on purpose!" protested Rei.

But Usagi just grinned victoriously.

"What is there to misunderstand about Jadeite in your bedroom?" asked Ami with a fake innocent expression. Rei couldn't believe it, even Ami was nowadays into gossip, what the hell was wrong with them?

"And, how was he?" asked Makoto dryly with a grin.

Okay, she wasn't going to let them just make fun of her. She could make fun of them too.

"Creepy. Cute." Rei had too much fun seeing Minako's face, so she added: "Wasn't a good experience, all in all, but he turned out to be an awesome choice for it. I'll certainly borrow him again."

"No waaaay!" squealed Usagi.

There will be phone calls, said Minako's face. There will be a lot of explaining, and it had better be good.

Rei grinned.

* * *

"So... I guess your visit at the dentist went well then?" said Ami to Rei when they had a moment to themselves.

Rei looked away, but she smiled.

"How did you know?"

"Uhm... your cheek is swollen, but you're not in pain any more...? Was that what you needed Jadeite for? Moral support?"

"I didn't... need him," said Rei and shook her head. "I just... saw him and spontaneously took him along. But yeah, nothing like a guy who could wreck the whole room in two seconds if you need moral support."

Ami smiled, to Rei's surprise. The Ami started stuttering around again.

"Uhm... you know... did he..."

"Yes?"

"... say anything..."

Ami was about to fall silent, but Rei's stern gaze made it clear that this was not an option, so she concluded meekly with "... about Nephrite?"

Rei shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Ami. Jadeite doesn't talk very much. I can try to bring it up diplomatically next time I see him. But if you don't want to wait, I'm certain Usagi will be happy to arrange something pink, cheerful and romantic for the two of you."

They looked at each other and shuddered, and broke out in laughter.

"I'll keep it in mind as a last resort," said Ami. "Thank you SO MUCH for suggesting it though."

"My pleasure. Well, until then, you'll have to stick to hanging around in Crown as often as possible in hope that Motoki will drop a hint some day," said Rei, and smiled when Ami blushed.

Rei made a mental note to make Makoto cue Motoki on this.

She couldn't for the world say what Ami - or anyone - saw in Nephrite, but she wouldn't be judgemental on this.

It was about time the senshi got some other food for their gossip.

And who knew, maybe it was good to have someone over at the Shitennou for first hand information.

After all, they were all guys. Someone needed to keep an eye on them.

* * *

It took a while until she saw Jadeite again, but one day, she saw him and Kunzite in town. Somehow, she liked to see Jadeite trailing behind Kunzite a lot better than Jadeite trailing behind Mamoru. Those two... they had teamed up in the Dark Kingdom, and they obviously did it again. Rei had a feeling that if Jadeite was making a cockroach joke about Mamoru's bike wear, Kunzite would snicker.

Rei was in a hurry, or she would have followed them and greeted them. But they were heading in different directions, and so she just waved them a hello, even if she knew they couldn't see it. To her surprise, Kunzite lifted an arm in response, giving her a casual wave, not even turning round.

Had she just imagined it? Could it have been someone else, and she had him mistaken for Kunzite in this busy crowd?

But then Jadeite turned round, looking for her, and she waved again.

He waved back, and then he was gone, following Kunzite again.


	5. Chapter 5

She met him again at the cemetary some time after that. It wasn't her usual day to visit, she had just come spontaneously, but her mother sure wouldn't complain. Not exactly such a lot of visitors at her grave that she could be picky...

She hadn't even brought flowers, she just kneeled down and cleaned the letters on the gravestone with a handkerchief.

She heard others talked to their deceased relatives at the grave, but she couldn't. Whenever she was here, all she could do was... be here. Probably cry a bit, on a day like this. Even after all these years.

It was on her way out when her eyes were drawn to someone at the far end of the cemetary.

Jadeite. Even more unmistakable than ever, in full Shitennou garb, a little stuffie in his hand, his head bent down. She slowly went closer. He didn't take notice of her until she stood next to him. The grave he was visiting already had stuffies on it. And flowers. And letters. And oddly, cans of ice tea.

KUROKI MIO

said the letters.

"Oh my gosh, I didn't know she's buried here too," whispered Rei. "Hi Jadeite."

"She's not buried here," answered Jadeite, not turning round, not looking at her. "There were no remains. I had some girl with no relatives buried in her place. That girl might like the attention of Mio's fans, and Mio, if she could see it, would love to see her faithful fans betrayed. I tried to catch the spirit at least."

Rei nodded in agreement. It sounded perfectly like Mio.

"Do you miss her?" asked Rei. She wanted to say something nice, because this was actually very cute, in a weird way.

"Hell, no," said Jadeite quickly and put the stuffie down, placing it neatly between some other stuffies, arranging the bow around the little thing. It was a mouse. He smirked to himself. "She hated rats. We had lots of them in the Dark Kingdom for my youmas. Mio-chan threw a fit at the sight of anything rat. Sometimes she caught one and slowly killed it in front of my eyes because she knew how much it bothered me. I hope this thing haunts her, wherever she is, so she knows I haven't forgotten about her."

"Wow, that's... definitely catching the spirit."

And somehow, she had the feeling that it took a guy as twisted as Jadeite to come up with something so much in her spirit.

She looked up to Jadeite.

"She still bothers you... that means she means something to you," she stated.

Jadeite shrugged.

"You know how they say, that it's the ones that make us the most sorrow we feel attached to the most? Oh, well..."

If that's true, his love for Queen Beryl must be bottomless, Rei thought, and she didn't like that thought.

"I guess I'm lucky I haven't got this kind of attitude towards my father," she sighed.

Jadeite smiled a small, forgiving smile. "What if it's the other way round?"

Rei stared at him. Then she turned away. "I don't even want to think about what this could mean," she decided. But she couldn't bring herself to walk away from him like this.

"Wanna sit with me a bit?" she asked.

* * *

There was a bench nearby, and they sat down there, Mio's grave in sight.

Jadeite didn't look like he had cried, but he did look pale and not well at all.

Jadeite's hands produced a cigarette out of his pockets, and in a routined, absentminded way he took off his gloves and tapped the end of the cigarette with a fingertip to light it.

He inhaled deeply.

"You're smoking?" asked Rei astonished. "Are you sure a Guardian should do that?"

Not to mention "are you sure you're old enough to smoke?", she thought.

The old familiar smirk had a short appearance on Jadeite's face.

"You don't have to tell me how unhealthy it is, I've heard it all from the princess. But I like it. It's just..."

He paused and watched the glowing cigarette in his hand. "It's like the Dark Kingdom. It's poisoning you, it's killing you, and you know it. The thought that you could do something better with your time has crossed your mind. But at the same time, it feels good, there's something damn right about it that you just can't define, and it has been your life for such a long time that you can't even imagine what you'd do without it."

"You miss the Dark Kingdom?"

She couldn't help sounding reproachful. The Dark Kingdom was, after all, responsible for most of the things that had brought Jadeite to the state he was...

Jadeite nodded a very small nod. The hand that held his cigarette started to shake.

"It's been my life. I lived a whole life there, the only one I have a full memory of. I know I've done horrible things. And there's the curse and all... But... I can't pretend I'm not..."

Now his hand shook so much he dropped his cigarette, and he had to bend down to pick it up again, and while he did so, he shuddered, and dropped it again. It was painful to watch.

Then he had it firmly in his shaking hand again, and let himself heavily drop against the back of the bench.

"What's the matter with you, Jadeite?" Rei asked worriedly.

"It's okay," said Jadeite. He had put his feet onto the bench and hugged his knees, "Really."

But he wasn't okay. He was obviously feeling sick.

"Jadeite, I'm so sorry," said Rei again. "I'm so sorry I mentioned that place... Is there something I can do for you?"

He took another puff and blinked when the smoke got into his eyes. "You're already doing something for me," he said. "I have noone else I can talk to about these things. Sure, there's the princess, and everyone is like 'you can open up to her and become like you used to be'. But this is so... look, they tell me that I am the same Jadeite that I've been in the Silver Millenium. But if that's true, I must also be the same Jadeite that I've been in the Dark Kingdom. Because... life is life, right? You can't say one is worth more than the other. You can't just choose one. I'm either all of them, or none. Does that make any sense at all?"

Rei nodded. "That makes a lot of sense to me. Although it seems to me the healthy reaction would be denial."

He shortly smirked. '"That's what the others try. 'I was bad, but I was forced, and I hated it and fought it every step on the way.'. But I didn't fight it. I didn't hate it. And... there wasn't any force needed to hold me there. I'm the one... I'm the only one who WAS bad. Through and through, evil to the end..."

Now Rei felt sick too.

"Oh, Jadeite... I don't think you could be... after all, I've seen you do good things... mourn for Nephrite, protect your Queen like a real guardian..."

He sneered. "Yes. Her. That's the point, you know. The others can tell themselves they hated her, because she forced them. They have a right to be upset. I can understand they want to forget...

But who would remember them then? Mio-chan's dead... Beryl-sama's dead... I'm still around because Endymion missed me. But I miss them, too, and they're not coming back, and I'm the only one who doesn't have the right to abandon their memory..."

He blinked some tears away.

Rei sighed. Now that was something she knew about.

"I know... for a long time, I thought I had to be the guardian of the memory of my mother. Nail down the last traces of her existence. Justify that I'm still there by carrying on the torch, so to speak. But... that didn't help, and it was scary to have that responsibility on my shoulders. You know what helped? Realizing that what would keep her memory alive was her, not me. She has left so many traces behind, she has changed the lives of many people, and whether I force it or not, these traces are there. She still lives in other people."

Like Mio, she wanted to add, but she couldn't bring herself to name her in the same speech with her mother. The colorful stuffies on the grave maybe said it for her. Like Beryl, because without her, I never would have become a Sailor Senshi.

For a while, they were silent. Jadeite lit himself another cigarette and Rei watched him smoke. She had to admit, it did look soothing. After a mere minute, she was almost asking him to give her a cigarette, too, if it hadn't been for the thought of how she would explain that to Minako.

"Do you sometimes see her, in other people? In the streets?" asked Jadeite.

"God, yes... it's been more than ten years, but I still see her," said Rei. She wiped a tear out of her eyes.

Jadeite laughed humourlessly. "That's why I avoid leaving Asia. Lesser redheads around. But lots of Mios... I guess it's no use whereever you go."

"I guess..."

Then he had finished smoking and just teleported the butt of the cigarette away.

"People are going to notice if you do that too often," said Rei.

"I'll tell them I ate it."

"Ew..."

"Talking about ew... do you want to see the other graves?"

"What? What others?"

"Well... mine, actually. And the guys'. We Shitennou had human incarnations in this time that weren't brought back when the Earth was restored. Our families don't even remember us. But I do. And I still have some of those stupid stuffies left. Come on, it's right over there."

* * *

It was a part of the cemetary that Rei had never entered before.

"These are ours," said Jadeite proudly. "And this is mine."

And there they were, four graves, with matching gravestones, and names on them that Rei had never heard before. She saw different dying days. Jadeite's being the first one. She should have known. She had heard it often before that he had been the one who had been under Beryl's control for the longest. Of course, it meant that he had been taken first. For a moment, her throat tightened. But then she told herself that Jadeite was here, right in front of her. He wasn't dead. He might not have recovered yet, but he was still there, and there was even a little smile on his face. Weirdly enough, seeing how much Jadeite liked this place and this crazy idea made it okay for Rei.

"You know, I should be creeped out of my mind right now," said Rei. She read the inscriptions again, but didn't ask questions. Although it was really hard not to.

"You'll get used to it," replied Jadeite as he was picking up a crumbled flower from his grave. It was yellow and wilted now, but it had clearly been a white rose once.

"Kunzite," he said warmly.

"And Nephrite, too," he added and pointed to a little shot glass that had probably contained something alcoholic.

"And Zoisite?" asked Rei. "But I guess he'll just sing or play some music."

"Yeah... please be careful not to run into them accidently when you're here. They don't admit to coming here. But you can mess around with their graves a bit if you like, it'll bug the hell out of them and they can't even complain."

It was of course most unappropriate to laugh on a cemetary, but Rei couldn't help it.

"You know, I'm a miko, and I'm going to be a priestess, I can't pick up a hobby of vandalizing graveyards... as much as I would like to..."

"Too bad... then you'll have to watch I guess."

And so she watched him. He had indeed more stupid stuffies, and they wore stupid Shitennou costumes, and Jadeite let them take stupid poses and bent the little swords on them in crazy angles.

"Will drive them nuts," he said. "I'd make them wank as well, but this Catholic places have no sense of humour at all."

Rei thought of her Catholic school and sighed. She was very proud of herself though not to have flinched at the wank.

When Jadeite was finished, they stood there for another moment to approve of the new decorations. Four strangers lied here, but to Rei, they almost felt like friends, seeing how much Jadeite cared for them.

"What were they like?" asked Rei.

"They were good people," said Jadeite. "They didn't deserve us."

"Oh, come on, Jadeite..."

But Jadeite's head already hung down in the way Rei had come to realize as his new trade mark.

"It's true... their lives had to make space for people long dead with horrible intentions. They fought us. They lost everything. They cried..."

Without a warning, Jadeite cringed and dropped to his knees. Twice, his energy lit up and crossed his body in the most unsettling way, obvioulsy giving him trouble.

"What's wrong, Jadeite?" asked Rei alarmed and wanted to help him up.

"Don't touch me!" he hissed. "Just a flashback. Don't touch me."

For a moment longer, he cringed and moaned, and Rei didn't know what to do.

Then he seemed to be steady again. Rei remembered his warning to touch him, but she just had to help him up. Yes, she caught some excess energy, but she hardly even noticed it.

"Your hand will hurt, please, you don't have to..." said Jadeite.

"That's nothing compared to a visit at the dentist," replied Rei. "Don't treat me like I've never had to deal with your energy before. You didn't want to underestimate me, remember?"

"I'm sorry," he sighed.

"I should hope so," replied Rei dryly.

"I'm really sorry..."

His terrified, guilty face made Rei angry. He shouldn't be like this. There was something that made her feel very uncomfortable at the thought that he might be unhappy. He was supposed to be one of the greatest powers that could protect Earth. He was supposed to be strong, and confident. What good did it do to apologize all the time?

"Yeah, so I heard. Quit repeating it, Jadeite. I'm not deaf."

"Sorry..."

"Are you listening at all?"

Obviously not. He still was all regret. Although he stopped the stupid apologies at least.

He looked at her, despair in his face.

"Rei... does it never bother you to have destiny thrown at you? Destiny is no excuse. We use up their lives for ours. Look here, they're gone. Not even the princess could bring them back. This world hasn't got a place for them any more. It's not fair. They didn't get a say in it."

"Stop it, Jadeite. From the position of one of those who didn't get a say in it, I can tell you it was a good thing. Scary, yes. But also rewarding. I wouldn't want to have it any other way."

"Really?"

"Really. Once you've been a Guardian, there's no way back. I really miss it. If your human incarnation would stand here with me, she'd tell you the same."

She. Jadeite shot her a short side glance, but didn't comment on it. There's no use denying it, Jadeite, thought Rei. I can read. And this says Hanako.

"I'm not certain she would," said Jadeite. "The curse hit her badly when she fought it."

"See? When she's that brave, she definitely supports who you are now."

"No, she doesn't. She's all 'When will you stop moping, emo boy?' Whatever that means. But thanks."

"You're welcome. So, any plans? About when you'll stop moping, I mean?"

Jadeite shrugged.

"When the nightmares stop," he said lightly, but it chilled Rei out of their silly mood, and she didn't ask any more.

She wanted to say something, but suddenly, she couldn't think of anything that would get past the nightmares.

And on top of it, she realized it would get dark soon which meant everyone at the shrine would start worrying.

"Jadeite... I... I need to go home, but... I'm usually here on Wednesdays, after school, so..."

He nodded.

"Want me to bring you home?"

"No."

Not yet.

But maybe over time... there was a mental image of Jadeite and her walking through the portal of the shrine that lay just out of her reach, but she knew it was there. For now, that was enough.

Altough... she couldn't leave him standing there, staring at his own grave...

And he could just as well begin somewhere...

"But I want you to bring me to the door of the cemetary."


	6. Chapter 6

The next Wednesday, he was there. The next Wednesday, too, and after that, he turned up or not in an unpredictable pattern. Rei liked that. She didn't want any pressure for him to come, and she did need to be alone with he mother sometimes.

Not that he was much of a disturbance. He mostly just leaned somewhere, smoking, or sat on one of the benches. He didn't look so lost that Rei had the feeling he was waiting for her to come over to him, although she eventually would. They didn't talk much, but they did talk.

Only once or twice, they visited the other graves. Once, Rei even brought some ice tea for Mio.

"I'm sure she hated it," she assured Jadeite with a smile. "Everyone would, that stuff is disgusting."

He grinned.

* * *

Today, Jadeite wasn't there. Rei wasn't certain if he'd come. He had only once been late before.

It would have been nice to sit in the sun together, taking in the peaceful atmosphere of the place, watch him smoke, maybe talk a bit. But if he was busy, Rei couldn't do anything about it.

She decided to do a little tour on the cemetary on her own, to see if he had been there earlier.

She visited Mio, just to stare grimly at her name for a while.

Then she wanted to walk over to the part where Jadeite had given the Shitennou a place to commemorate their human lives. She didn't pay much attention to the way, she was deeply in thought.

A young man came her direction, and automatically she made way for him to pass. But he didn't want to pass. He intentionally blocked her way.

"What are you doing here, Sailor Mars?" he asked.

She looked up, startled. For a second, she honestly had no idea who he was. Spiky brown hair, combed into his face, brown eyes, jeans and a white tshirt... it was the little frown he had between his eyebrows that suddenly made her realize who she was looking at, and old memories made her jump back.

Zoisite - and he was angry!

But then she told herself to calm down.

Not enemies any more, Usagi's mantra.

And she remembered Jadeite's warning not to run into any of the other guys here. She sure would have avoided an encounter with Zoisite if she had ever known she had to look out for him in a human form. But now she couldn't change anything about it. All she could do was stare at him, because she couldn't come up with any words to say.

That didn't help Zoisite's mood at all.

"You shouldn't come here," said Zoisite sharply. "This hanging out on cemetaries with Jadeite, it's not like you do him a favor if you allow him to be stuck in the past. Your princess buried him under tons of rocks. The earlier he forgets about it, the better."

For a moment, this brought an unbearable picture to Rei's imagination. Horrfied, she stared at Zoisite. Then she spun around and ran.

She made it to her mother's place before the tears came. She dropped on her knees, on the only place she felt safe, her mother's name in front of her eyes, and here she cried. It started slow, but then it overwhelmed her, and she couldn't stop any more.

She heard someone approaching.

Zoisite wouldn't dare to come after her and see her like this...?

"Rei, what's wrong?"

Jadeite's voice. Rei wanted to tell him how relieved she was that it was him. But what she did instead was scream out the words burning her from inside.

"How dare he? How dare he come here? This is where my mama rests. She has nowhere else to go. How dare he come here and pick a fight with me! Here, of all places?"

"Who did that?" asked Jadeite worried. He had to put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down enough so she could sob out the name.

"Zoisite!"

For a moment, Jadeite looked shocked, but then he got angry. His face hardened, and his blue eyes went cold.

"Wait here!" he snarled and a wave of subspace interference washing over her told Rei that he had teleported right out of the cemetary.

Jadeite was only gone a short time, when he return in another teleport, this time bringing the human Zoisite with him by a firm grip on his arm.

Zoisite tried to break free, but Jadeite just dragged him with him and pushed him in front of Rei.

"Explain!" he demanded.

Rei looked up into Zoisite's face. Zoisite clearly hadn't expected to see her like this. He dropped down on his knee before her, changing into the silverwhite guardian she knew. Not that his Shitennou form as such had a very calming effect on Rei, but it sure added emphasize to the gesture.

"I'm sorry, Rei," he said softly. "I didn't want to scare you."

It took a few more apologies in Zoisite's warm voice to calm Rei down. It also helped to see Jadeite look down on Zoisite with a look of satisfaction. She had a feeling this kind of excuses weren't given very often by Zoisite.

Rei's sobbing finally died down and she accepted the handkerchief Jadeite handed her.

"It's okay, Zoisite," she told him after she had tried her face. "I know you didn't mean it the way it came out. You were probably just startled to run into me unexpectedly."

No need to mention why he was here, and Zoisite seemed to be glad about it.

"Something like that," he admitted and smiled at her. That made Rei feel a lot better.

"I don't usually freak out like this", she said. "I'm very touchy when it comes to my mother."

"Your mother?" asked Zoisite astonished.

Rei pointed to the gravestone they were sitting in front of.

"She's here, Zoisite."

Now Zoisite was actually blushing.

"So that's why... I didn't know that. Rei, again, I'm really sorry about how I behaved. I thought when you came here, you were doing this for Jadeite."

"No", said Rei. "He's doing this for me."

She looked at Jadeite, who returned a small, reserved smile, his eyes sparkling with pride.

"Jadeite," she said. "Can you bring me home?"


	7. Chapter 7 Tiger

The week after the Zoisite incident, Jadeite was there again. He didn't say much, but he had stopped pretending not to watch her. And he had a confused expression that Rei found to be very annoying. Something was on his mind, and Rei had a good idea what it was.

"Do you have time to walk me home today, Jadeite?"

Very quickly, he told her that he had. Yes, he had been waiting for that question. No doubt.

Rei had her bicycle parked in front of the cemetary doors, and now she was pushing it while walking at a slow pace with Jadeite.

"Jadeite, you know, I think Zoisite had a point. We shouldn't just be gloomy in cemetaries. We should be gloomy in town, too."

Jadeite gave her a side glance. None of them had mentioned Zoisite so far.

Rei wanted to curse his silence and his stupid, stubborn head. This was difficult enough to say, why wasn't he making it any easier? And had noone ever told him he needed a haircut?

"I mean..." she continued after a pause, "I don't know if you have the time, but... we're friends, right?"

Another side glance. But this time, an answer.

"Yeah."

"So we could hang out together... not all day, but... Hey, look, coffee. Should we have some?"

"Okay..."

Rei got them some coffee and they found a place to sit. She had been right. Coffee worked. Jadeite finally relaxed a bit. But he still was thinking about something, she could see it in his face. Rei thought how his hair could make everything he did look annoying while his blue eyes softened that effect again. She waited. Finally, Jadeite found words to say, his eyes avoiding her.

"Rei... we aren't... dating?"

"No!" She couldn't help to be embarassed, but she was glad he had brought it up. "I don't do dates! You don't believe I suggested this as a date?"

"I wasn't certain, but..."

"But hoping?"

"No. More dreading, actually. I'd be a poor choice. You deserve better."

"Don't say that, Jadeite," said Rei. "It's not because it's you, really, nothing against you. But I'm not the dating type._ 'Aw, look how cute I am, aw, look at all the things I do with my hair, aw, I need new clothes, aw, does this handbag make me look silly enough?' _I really don't have the time for that. We're just... hanging out. Together."

Jadeite looked very relieved. "Good. I'm not... I can't go dating senshi. I mean..." he paused for a moment, and then he smirked. The old smirk. "I guess I'll leave it to Nephrite to get that one through to Kunzite."

Rei was more than happy to change the subject. Even if it was for gossip. But it wasn't gossip if it was about a friend, right? And she had a promise to keep.

"Speaking of which... So Nephrite is really interested in Ami? Are you certain?"

"Are you kidding? She's all he's talking about."

"Good. I mean, I don't know if it's good. But he's all she's talking about as well. Seriously, how many lifetimes will it take them to come together?"

Jadeite shrugged. Rei had hoped for a smile.

"Is there a problem?" she asked. "You guys not in favor of the idea?"

"No. We're not."

Rei waited for an explanation, and she didn't like that she had to ask for it, but she had to know.

"Because...?"

He hesitated, but then he answered.

"I guess we're just a bunch of selfish suckers and all... but in the last life, he has turned his back on us for her. And I don't see what would keep him from doing so this time. He's my friend, and I want him to be happy. But I don't know if I want to lose him again. Especially to her."

"You don't trust Ami?"

He just sneered instead of an answer.

"Please, Jadeite be honest. I can take it. If there is a problem with this, I want to know it as early as possible. Before there are broken hearts and all."

Jadeite looked away. But he answered. "Don't forget I know both sides of her. Cutesy little squeak mouse and full blown hell rat. And I don't like any of them. Sorry about that. But that's what I honestly think."

"Hm, she's changed, you know. She's sort of grown into a healthy middle in between those extremes."

Jadeite still didn't look like he liked it. Rei didn't want to end their talk like this, but there was only one thing she could come up with. She sighed. Sometimes, a few small talk skills would come in handy.

"You know, Jadeite, I hate gossiping, but now that we're already at it... what do you think about Minako and Zoisite?"

To her surprise, he cheered up immediately.

"Honestly?" he grinned.

"Please."

"Well... do you sometimes see two people and can only think how much they deserve each other?"

Rei smiled in surprise. "What? You're not feeling sorry for Zoisite then?"

"Zoisite?" replied Jadeite with a snort. "Why would I feel sorry for Zoisite? Whenever they saw each other, he was doing something stupid with his sword. Fully deserved that she blew him into crystal coma. I'm not sorry at all."

"But... isn't Zoisite a quiet, shy guy? Minako has very little patience for that kind."

"Zoisite isn't shy!" said Jadeite emphatically. "If you want to see what Zoisite is like, listen to his music. Next to Zoisite, Kunzite is a fluffy little kitten!"

That made Rei laugh out loud.

"A fluffly little kitten?"

"Sure. Look at him. Always purring, always circling people, always clawing for their attention. Kitten boy. We've been making fun of him for it since, I don't know, forever."

Rei stared at him, and suddenly, she had a feeling like seeing one of these illusion pictures that turn from a vase into faces. It did make sense. Unfortunately.

"Wow, I think my brain just got permanent damage from that mental image," she murmured. Then she grinned. "So, who's going to adopt that kitten, I wonder?"

Jadeite shrugged. "I don't know. Jupiter seems to be more of a turtle person."

"Very much so, yes."

"Then I guess we'll have to wait and see if the other little kitten grows out of her attitude when she gets older."

Again, it took Rei a few second to grasp what he had said. Then she shook her head.

"No."

"No, I don't see it either," said Jadeite. "I guess we'll have to wait if the outer senshi come out in this time. Maybe Pluto is lonely."

"The outer senshi?"

No Jadeite was perplexed. "You must know about them. Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and the others."

"Sorry, I don't remember them."

He shrugged. "I only heard about them. Times must be pretty bad when they bother to come here to rough things up. I guess Kunzite will have to sort it out by himself. He's probably not yet over Mercury, then noone should rush him."

"He liked her?"

"Yeah."

"He had a funny way of showing it."

"That's Kunzite."

It was only later that evening when Rei suddenly realized that none of them had considered her dating Kunzite in the least. Not that she wished to do so. If she'd ever think of having a kitten, she'd look for something cute and fluffy, not a sabertooth tiger. But still...

* * *

"So, Jadeite, what are we going to do when we're hanging out?"

"Hm, I don't know..."

They went through some ideas, but didn't find something they both liked.

Cake, ice-cream, or eating something in general - too much like a date. Movies even more so. Definitely not karaoke, Rei insisted. Jadeite assured her he got his daily dose of music at home thankyouverymuch. Rei suggested sports, without much enthusiasm, but it turned out Jadeite already had all the exercise he needed from patroling and Kunzite's unshakeable belief that busy people didn't have time to mope.

It turned out Jadeite liked hunting, which wasn't exactly something to do in a big city.

"Except probably for rats, but I currently don't have a youma who's trained for that..."

"Ew! And ew again! Jadeite!"

He just threw her the most reproachful look of honestly not understanding what the fuss was about, and Rei dropped the youma issue instantly.

Rei remembered Jadeite liked horses, but didn't bring it up for the city problem again...

"So, Rei, what do you like to do?"

It turned out that the only thing Rei liked was reading books.

"Well, I guess I could watch you read a book and be gloomy in peace without Kunzite throwing a fit over me 'getting all insufferable from having nothing to do'," said Jadeite with a sigh.

"Wouldn't it be boring for you?"

"No. I like watching people."

"Hey, me too!"

And so they left the book idea for rainy days and went for interesting places to watch people. They also agreed that a drink of coffee or soda was neutral and not dating at all.

It worked well. No small talk was required, only some explanations of Rei about the modern times. With Jadeite who was clueless about mostly everything, even the well-known became strange and interesting again. While strange concepts like magical drifts or resident spirits were a perfectly normal topic of conversation.

Probably it's not that I'm not made for normal men, thought Rei. I'm probably not made for normal.

Somehow, she liked that.


	8. Chapter 8 Up to no good

**Khmyh, this is for you, something to wrap your sanity in during exams. Best of luck, and enjoy!**

* * *

Rei didn't like shopping. She had what she needed, and if she needed something new, she went straight for it and did no sideshopping. Therefor, she usually paid no attention to the merchandise left and right on the shopping street.

But on their way to a new place to hang out, there was a t-shirt for sale that stopped her dead in her tracks.

"Jadeite," gasped Rei, "You. Need. This. T-shirt."

"I do?"

He eyed it suspiciously. "What does that say?" he asked and pointed to the English inscription on it.

Rei grinned. "It's a spell. A very famous spell out of a book. Come on, what's your size?"

"I don't know. Explain about the spell! What book? What spell?" Jadeite followed her into the shop. He still had the grumpy face that he made when he was extremely suspicious, and Rei couldn't stop grinning.

"It says 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good.' Famous spell."

"What kind of spell is that supposed to be? Sound more like a curse to me."

"Oh, come on, it's just a story. It's not supposed to work anyway. It's a spell that reveals a map of a magical castle. It's called 'The Marauders Map'. Wait, this is a fanshop, they might even sell it."

Jadeite was intrigued.

"A real magical map?"

Rei rolled her eyes. "No, just one that looks like the magical map in the stories. Here, try this on, and I'll look for the map."

"I what?"

"Jadeite, if I buy you a t-shirt, I want to see you in it, obviously. That cubicle over there is for changing clothes, so the shop isn't full of half naked kids."

"But I..."

"What? Need help with getting dressed?"

"No..."

"Off you go then."

He trailed to the cubicle, suspicion and reluctance on his face.

Rei suddenly found herself enjoying shopping. Probably the trick was to make someone else suffer for it.

Should have thought of it years ago, she thought with a grin.

It got even better when he came back with the t-shirt on.

"It's too small," he complained.

"It's exactly right. It's supposed to be exactly like this."

Jadeite usually wore huge t-shirts he could shrink into when he sat down. This one fit him. And it also showed that while he was very thin, he could not be called delicate. Somehow, that fit him too, thought Rei.

"And it's green with silver," sulked Jadeite. "Zoisite is going to steal it. 'Hey, my size _and_ my signature colors, why, Jadeite, how nice of you'."

"Tell him there's a spell on it."

"I'm not going to lecture Zoisite on magic theory."

"Tell him you know what it's saying, and Minako will know it too."

That brought a big smile on Jadeite's face.

"That's good. But let's look if they have it in pink, to be on the safe side."

"You can't be serious. I'm not buying you a pink t-shirt."

"Hey! It's one of my signature colors!"

"No. Just no. There is no pink on Hogwarts. Wait a minute. You're right. You shouldn't be wearing green and silver. That's Slytherin. People in Slytherin are sly."

"Hey!"

"What, you didn't want it in green anyway. Let's look what they have here... Blue and grey, no, definitely not... scarlet and gold, hm..."

"Nephrite will steal it."

"You're right. He will, and he should. Hey, look, black and yellow. Isn't black your signature color, too?"

"Of course not. I just look good in it."

Rei chuckled. "One more reason to wear this. And look, gold, too. Let me sprinkle some glitter on, and you will hardly notice the difference to your workwear. So this is your t-shirt. Welcome to the house of Hufflepuff!"

Now Jadeite was more suspicious than before.

"What does that mean?"

Rei gave him a conspiratory look and spoke in a deep voice.

"You're a wizard, Jadeite."

"I'm a what? Of course I am. I'm a Guardian. Explain Vufflepluff."

"Ah, Hufflepuff House, you're in the great company of Cedric Diggory."

"What?"

"Nymphadora Tonks!"

"What?"

"Honestly, don't you two read?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Shsh, Jadeite, you be a good Hufflepuff and go change into the black t-shirt without thinking too much. Believe me, you'll get it right automatically."

Now Jadeite was really grumpy, almost giving off sparks from hurt pride, but he was being a good Hufflepuff, just as Rei had told him. She held back a lot of silly giggles until he was out of sight, but then she had to vanish behind another rack of t-shirts and let it out. This was the best shopping she'd ever done.

* * *

"Yes, totally your colors, Jadeite," she said when he came back. Black definitely fit his mood now, so Rei saw it was time for a distraction.

"Here, they have it, look. The Marauder's Map. Made by four guys who were best friends and always up to no good. It shows the castle, with hidden room and all, and in the movie, it also shows where everyone is in that castle."

Jadeite watched the map with fascination, forgetting about the t-shirt in an instant.

"Ha! We totally did that, too," he said with a proud grin. "We developed a new version of some older mapping spells, made us Shitennou and the Master the first humans ever to transport into unseen places. You totally need to map the place you want to teleport into. You don't want to end up where something solid is, or something living bumping into you, or no ground under your feet... but you can't do it to scale. There's no way it can be done to scale with the original. That's where the Marauder's Map gets it wrong. Oh, and they nested too many spells in it. Otherwise, nice job, really."

Rei watched him amusedly. She had never heard him talk like that, loud and vivid, and making a face every five words. He really was into this.

"Okay, how about this, Jadeite. This map is for sale, and I buy you one, and you keep the t-shirt right on."

"But... Rei... this shirt..."

"What is it with you all the time? It's just a t-shirt! What's all the fuss about?"

"Rei... is this the kind of person you think I am? Up to no good?"

Rei suddenly felt a very wide grin spread over her face that she was entirely unable to suppress.

She looked into his big blue worried eyes.

"Yes, Jadeite. You said it yourself, you're still the same guy you used to be. The guy who tried to slit my Sailor Mars chest plate away to see if I wore a bra underneath."

"What?"

Mischief managed.

Rei chuckled.

"Oh come on, you so obviously singled me out in every fight, and you so obviously never aimed for my throat. What was I supposed to think, huh?"

"Welll... not that at least... I really didn't..."

He had started making faces while he was talking. Rei had never seen him do that until today, it was very entertaining, just like the whole discussion.

"Spare me your cheap excuses, Jadeite. I know what teenage boys have on their minds, believe me, in my job, you really get to know people's secret wishes. So what you are telling me is that you actually deserve a t-shirt that says "I was up to the noblest intentions"? Is that so?"

Jadeite cast down his eyes and looked unhappy. "I don't think I deserve a t-shirt at all," he mumbled.

Was he actually trying the guilt trip again? On her? Hadn't he learned anything?

"Well, I say you deserve a t-shirt, and a good kick to the butt. But I doubt they sell that here. Although I can ask if you insist."

Jadeite still looked unhappy. "But I really shouldn't..."

"Jadeite, are you trying to make me mad? Because I can always make it a kick to the jewels if you make me mad enough."

He stared at her. "What jewels?"

She stared back. "Guess."

It took him a moment to get it, and then he blushed.

"Oh..." he said. And added. "I didn't know girls can speak like this and not drop down unconscious..."

Rei sneered. "You don't know a lot of things I can do. So, the t-shirt and the map it is, then."

Jadeite looked down on his chest.

"I still think it would look better in pink."


	9. Chapter 9  Score

**More chapters. More dialogue. I hope you're getting used to it ;D**

* * *

It didn't take Rei long to realize that what was a normal city life for her was a minefield of Dark Kingdom memories for Jadeite. It took her a lot longer to realize that she possesed a very different minefield as well.

One day, Jadeite suddenly stared at a woman that went past them. A middle aged woman in a business suit, good looking but Rei didn't know why Jadeite had to look after her that wide eyed.

Then, he even followed her and quickly caught up with her.

"Excuse me... I'm sorry... Mrs Osaka?"

The woman looked stressed out, but her voice was friendly when she asked: "I'm sorry, young man, do we know each other?"

"I used to work for you, but my hair was shorter, and dark... and I'm so sorry about what happened to your big jewel show!"

"Oh yes, what a fiasco... ah, now I remember you! Jadeite!"

Her face lit up, and a genuine smile appeared, much to Rei's confusion.

"Jadeite, who saved me from big embarassment by his mysterious ability to tell almost identical gemstones apart! I was so worried when I couldn't find you after the show went wrong."

"I'm really very sorry that your show ended like this. I should have been there for you and helped you through it all like I had promised. I'm so sorry!"

"But Jadeite, you don't have to blame yourself. Everyone who was there panicked. I'm glad to see you again, and so mature and good-looking. Not a scratch on you, thankfully, I was really worried. So you're okay now?"

"Yes, Mrs Osaka. I'm fine. And how are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm fine, too. That mysterious attack on my show has given my work a lot of attention, and you wouldn't believe there were even sightings of the gentleman jewel thief Tuxedo Mask fighting intruders. Haven't you seen it in the newspapers, jewel thieves duelling over my creations? What a boost of sales! I can't complain."

"I'm glad to hear that, Mrs Osaka. You deserve the success. You do wonderful things with crystals."

Mrs Osaka's smile got even warmer. "Thank you, Jadeite. Yes, I'm doing fine, but I never had an assistant again who could make that sinful hot chocolate, or sense when I needed it the most. You're not, by any chance, looking for a new position right now?"

A tiny smile appeared on Jadeite's face.

"Sorry, Mrs Osaka. You really should have someone who brings you the chocolate you like, but I can't quit my current job."

"Too bad... but if you want to come over and have a look at my new creations, give me a call and I show you around, and we talk about the old times, what do you think?"

Jadeite's eyes shone up.

"I'd like that. Very much. Thank you, Mrs Osaka."

Jadeite took the card she gave him, and flashed Mrs Osaka a huge smile.

"I missed that smile," said Mrs Osaka. "Please give me a call!"

* * *

Mrs Osaka was long out of sight, but Jadeite still was behaving totally strange.

Rei watched unbelievingly as Jadeite happily smiled at the business card, and even took it out of the pocket of his shirt twice just to smell at it, or gaze at it some more.

"Who was that?" asked Rei. "How come you know her?"

"Osaka Mayumi," replied Jadeite absent mindedly. "Great jewellery designer. I sneaked into her team when I prepared an attack on the audience of the presentation of her new collection. She liked me and we had a great time preparing that show."

"That show that you then blew."

"M-hm. But look how kind she is, she has already forgiven me. She wants to see me again."

Rei couldn't believe it.

"That's because she doesn't know what you really did to her back then. Wasn't she the one you got infested with a youma?"

"Posessed, not infested. Why are you mad at me now? She obviously didn't take permanent damage."

"She must have, if she thinks spending time with the guy who tried to destroy her carreer is a good idea. She would even give you a job again. Do you think she would still do that if she knew the truth about you? That was a pretty mean thing to pretend helping her while you were actually cheating on her."

That struck a chord in Jadeite, but he wasn't falling back into the guilty mood she knew on him. Instead, he just jerked his head irritatedly.

"But I don't do that kind of thing any more."

Rei only dealt him a stern look. At least somewhat, Jadeite seemed to sober.

Jadeite sighed. "Look, I know I shouldn't have messed up her show. I'm not thinking just an apology will do. But that's why I need to talk to her again. I need to meet her and find out if there's something I can do for her as a compensation."

"Who knows what kind of compensation she has on her mind. Why is she so fond of you anyway? 'I missed that smile'... what the hell did you put in her chocolate mug?"

"Are you jealous, Rei?" asked Jadeite astonished.

"No! I just think you are a bit naive about her intentions. She didn't sound like it's her jewellery she wants to show you!"

"Is that so?" smirked Jadeite, his eyes sparkling. She knew that smirk. That smirk was bad news.

Rei narrowed her eyes.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," she realized and didn't know if she should be shocked or annoyed. "Did I just see you score a date? With a woman twice your age? How did you get by on her team anyway, you don't know the first thing about anything? Don't tell me she kept you because she 'liked your smile'!"

Jadeite shrugged.

"I'm good with crystals," Jadeite said lightly. "So is she. We have lots in common."

"No, you don't! You can't go to that date!"

"Of course I can!"

"No you can't! She doesn't know who you are! And what kind of a person is that who picks her assistants based on their ability to lift her spirits with chocolate and smiles and who knows what!"

Jadeite stopped and turned towards her. His eyes were cold as ice. The way she remembered them from fights in the past. And what the hell was he thinking lowering his head like this, like he was about to draw a dagger any moment?

"Don't insult her! You don't even know her! You're the right one to talk like that! I've seen the helps at the shrine. 'Can I bring you something, Hino-san?' 'What kind of music do you like, Hino-san?' 'I play in a band, I can get you tickets for our concerts, will you come, please, please, whine, whine...'"

"I don't care about this kind of thing at all and it's none of your business! None at all!"

"Just like it's none of your business who I'm going out with! We're not dating. I can go out with a tentacled youma if I want to. I don't need to be lectured by you about it. What do you know about dating anyway?"

Now Rei's rage was in full blaze.

"Fine! Go out with Miss Tentacle of the Millenium and let her show you her 'jewellery'! I don't care at all! And how come you know what's going on at the shrine? Have you been spying on me? Are you sneaking up on me in my home? Don't ever let me catch you stalking me!"

"I'm not stalking. I'm patroling. I just follow orders. If you don't mind, I go and find me a nice crystal to bring Mrs Osaka when I see her, and you can go back to wiping the shrine yard with all your sugggestive butt shaking at the sight of other guys!"

"Yeah, go and take your suggestive smile and your secret knowledge about crystals and sinful chocolates with you! Idiot!"

"Damned interfering Sailor Senshi!"

"Pah!"

Rei turned around and walked away from him, not turning back. And she made very certain she didn't suggestively shake her butt while she left. She never did anyway! The nerve!


	10. Chapter 10 Conference call

"You're jealous."

Minako's voice on the phone was all matter-of-factly, but Rei heard the dry amusement nevertheless and could picture the lopsided malicious smile on her friend just too well.

"No! Of course not! I just don't think it's okay that he has a date with that woman."

"But Naru's mom is really very nice," said Usagi, the other participant in the conference call. "And she's single."

"I know she's nice, I've met her," said Rei. "But she thinks Jadeite is a harmless boy, all she knows is that he used to work for her, and went out of his way to cheer her up when she was stressed out. She doesn't remember he put a youma into her that made her ruin her show and threaten her own daughter. And that Jadeite hit her daughter so hard that she fell to the floor unconscious.

Didn't you say Naru still has nightmares about it, Usagi?"

"Yes, but... Naru-chan knows about the Dark Kingdom. She saw me transform, and I told her everything, back then. And she said she's kind of relieved that she wasn't hallucinating it."

"But how would she feel if she saw her mum and Jadeite dating, and recognized him as the bad guy?"

"She knows the Shitennou aren't bad guys any more. We're friends. I tell her about these things. After all, I often have one of the guys with me for protection when I go to town with Naru-chan. She's gotten used to them."

'"To Jadeite, too?" asked Rei unbelieving.

"I'm not sure they have met yet..." said Usagi, trying to rake her memory for it.

"Wait a minute," interrupted Minako her sharply. "Since when is it the Shitennou's job to protect you? That's our job. They better keep out of that. I don't want them to nose around in your life. What are they thinking?"

"Oh... errmm... Minako-chan, please don't be mad..." Usagi obviously hadn't intended to let this bit of information slip.

"Don't you trust us, Usagi? Why don't you call us if you need protection? Do you really feel safer with one of those guys around?"

"It's not like this, Minako-chan. You don't understand... look, this is not really a safety issue. It's just... promise me you don't tell them, but Mamoru and me assign them for real world duties because they need to settle into the new times. They would shut themselves up in that creepy house of Kunzite, and go out at night, slaying youmas and patroling and stuff like that, and never learn about the modern times, and it gets them into trouble a lot. But they're too proud to accept any help. So Mamoru assigns them for princess duty, and I take them along so they learn how things are done in our world. Please calm down, Minako-chan, okay? Okay?"

"Okaaay..." said Minako. "But I don't want them to think we can't do the princess duty just as well, if not ten times better. You should take one of us along, too."

"Aw, Minako-chan, that's a great idea! So you can get used to them and see for yourself how nice those guys are these days."

"Nice."

"Aw, come on, Rei-chan hates boys and even she thinks Jadeite is nice."

"Right now, I don't think he's really that nice. I rather think he must be out of his mind."

* * *

"Hi everyone, sorry I called so late. So, what did I miss, fill me in! Who's out of his mind?"

"Hi Mako-chaan!" called Usagi so cheerful that everyone flinched. "You wouldn't believe - Jadeite wants to go out with Naru-chan's mom!"

To Rei's anger, Makoto was overly amused by that. "What? And who is having a fit over it, Naru-chan or Rei?"

"Oh, Rei is _not jealous at all_," said Minako dryly. "She's just super grumpy and is rambling on and on about how wrong it is. Nothing suspicious about that."

"I'm _not_ jealous!" corrected Rei her angrily. "I just think she's too old for him, and only playing with his guilty feelings. And I think it's not going to be a great experience for Naru."

"Yes, you don't sound jealous at all," said Makoto, just as dryly as Minako.

"Rei, seriously," said Minako. "You know Naru is nowhere in this. Mrs Osaka isn't inviting him for a family dinner. She has invited him to her jewellery shop, she might actually show him her latest collection, and after that, she'll take him out for dinner and then they'll look into a nice hotel, where the staff knows her well enough not to ask if the boy is legal."

"MINAKO!" yelled all three.

"What?" she returned with fake innocense. "I do hope though she's taking him out nicely this time, and not just taking it to the workshop or office like in the old days!"

"MINAKOOO!"

"Aw, Minako, really, you can't talk like that..." Makoto had a deep sense of decency and was shocked. "And what do you mean, in the old days, do they know each other?"

"Jadeite used to work for Naru's mother," said Rei. "And when he had gained her trust, he infested her with a youma and made her ruin her own show to collect energy. She doesn't remember that. I heard them talking. To her, he's that overeager little assistant who went mysteriously missing after that incident. She 'missed his smile'."

Minako laughed again.

"I bet she did. I surveyed that show because I had a hunch that Tuxedo Kamen would sneak in and steal the jewellery. Which he tried indeed. And what can I say? Mrs Osaka is really a hard working woman. Staying up all night to give her presentation the finishing touches. And guess who was the dedicated assistent who stayed up all that night with her? Looks like he had some finishing touches to give as well."

"You can stop it right there, Minako!" hissed Rei icily. "I'm not falling for it. You just make this story up to see if I break out into a big fit. I'm not going to. I don't care."

"Absolutely not," chuckled Minako. "That's why you're so angry at me."

"I'm angry because you talk about Mrs Osaka like this just to make fun of me."

"You know..." said Usagi slowly. "You don't need to fight about it. I think I remember her talking to her assistant, and I was admiring her for how warm hearted she was with him. I thought she's really a great boss for her team if she can be so friendly in such a stressful situation. But if it was Jadeite...and I'm almost certain I recognize his voice... she might really have liked him back then. No, don't be mad at me, Rei, I don't believe the things that Minako says about them. She could just have liked him. Without having second thoughts."

Rei remembered the dreamy looks Jadeite had thrown that business card, and the knowing smirk on his face, and sighed.

"But Mako-chan, you don't know the other news!" continued Usagi excitedly. "Minako found out that I take Shitennou with me to town for protection and some real life experience, and now she wants you girls to come along too! So the Shitennou see it's still the senshi's duty to protect the princess."

"A-ha," said Makoto. "She didn't say which Shitennou exactly she wants to be on duty with, by any chance?"

"No, she didn't," said Rei who saw her chance to get back at Minako. "But we all know who it is she wants to see."

"I what? What are you talking about?" asked Minako. "I'm not interested in any of them. Of course not. If I was, I would have asked him out right away. I wouldn't have to resort to be stealthy about it."

"Then you won't mind if Usagi makes you do all the Jadeite shifts?" asked Rei with false concern. "I can take over Zoisite, no problem."

"Because you're not jealous of Jadeite at all and it doesn't matter to you at all who he goes out with."

"Not at all."

"Then why don't you take the Jadeite shifts if you're so cool with him?" snapped Minako.

"Then why don't you take the Zoisite shifts if you're so cool with him?" snapped Rei back.

"Wheeeeaah, yes, let's do it this way, so much more fun!" squealed Usagi.

"Wow," said Makoto. "Looks like Nephrite is free to do Ami duty then while you two sort out your coolness around your boys."

"They're not our boys," snapped Minako and Rei simultaneously.

"Aw, but Mako-chan is right, it would be such a great help for Ami if we did it this way. So noone can say she's desperate for Nephrite. It'll be duty. Come one, we're her friends, and she has such a hard time coming up with reasons to see him. We have to do this for her. You absolutely can't deny that to her!"

Her triumphant tone said that now she had them.

"For the sake of Ami..." grumbled Rei.

"If you absolutely insist..." said Minako, and they could hear an eyeroll in her voice.

"So, Mako-chan, is it okay for you if you get Kunzite duty?" asked Usagi pleadingly. "I know he can be a bit harsh..."

"That's okay. As long as it's clear to him that I am very happy with my Motoki-kun and only interested in professional contact."

"You don't have to stress it like that. That's what we are interested in as well," sulked Minako.

"And nothing else whatsoever," agreed Rei.

"Aw, Ami-chan will be so happy!" squealed Usagi.

Rei didn't feel so enthusiastic about it.

"The Shitennou won't be so happy," she said. "They don't like the idea of Nephrite and Ami together."

"But why?" Usagi really was astonished.

"They probably think Nephrite and Kunzite will fight over her again," suspected Minako. "I don't want to see that happen either."

"Hm, no," said Rei. "Jadeite said..."

She hesitated. She didn't really want to discuss any more things that Jadeite had said. But she had brought it up after all. "He said they're afraid to lose him. He seems to think Nephrite will quit the Shitennou for her. He says he's done it before."

"Really?" Makoto was surprised. "You mean when he saved Ami, he knew he'd die for it? How romantic..."

"Then he deserved to be with her all the more," Usagi said firmly. "Don't give me that reproachful silence, Minako-chan. Don't you see how romantic this is?"

"Not really, no. He was lying in his bloos before her, I can think of ten thousand things that are more romantic than that."

"I can't believe you're saying this, Minako-chan. How terrible!" Usagi was hurt. "Aren't you the senshi of love, too? Shouldn't you support Ami's love?"

Minako sighed. "I don't like to admit it, but you're right. They should at least have a chance. But we have to keep an eye on them. And on the Shitennou too."

"Aw, Minako-chan, I knew you're a total romantic too. So Rei, how about you? What do you say?"

"First, I say I'm not a romantic. Second, I really have enough of discussing other people's dates for today. But Ami wants him. She's smart, she can handle this. But the moment she's unhappy, we'll kick his stupid butt."

"Sounds like a plan," grinned Minako.

"And if you want me to kick Jadeite's butt right now, you just have to say the word," assured her Makoto.

"I'm not unhappy! And if he needs a kick, I can do that myself."

"Just trying to help."

"Aw, leave Rei-chan alone, everyone. She's likes a boy but has issues with dating. That's bad enough. Don't make it worse."

"I don't like Jadeite... I mean, I do, but not like that. Certainly not like that."

"How do you know?" chuckled Minako. "Kiss him. Then we talk about how you like him exactly."

"No," said Rei firmly. "I can't do that. I won't play with him. It would be cruel. You don't understand Jadeite at all."

"And you wouldn't believe how happy I am about this."

"Aw... Minako-chan, Jadeite is really nice..."

Rei had to smile as she listened to the bickering that started between Minako and Usagi.

As embarrasing as it was to be teased by her girlfriends, she felt much calmer now. She had been reminded of what it was that she and Jadeite had, and she knew she had to find a way to apologize and be friends again.


	11. Chapter 11  Friends

**I guess if you made it until here, you've become quite painfree when it comes to an overhang of dialogue. Good for you ;D **

**I love reading your comments, so please review!**

* * *

She was surprised she'd have that opportunity to talk to Jadeite the same day.

"Rei-chan... there's a young man outside who wishes to see you..." said Mrs. Itou, the shrine priest's wife and Rei's fostering grandmother.

Rei looked up from her homework, not really catching up. "Who?"

The older woman brought forth a very knowing smile. "He seems to be a nice guy, very polite. Very thin... probably a bit young..."

Rei rolled her eyes. "Silly hair, pathetic clothes, a bad posture, and when he speaks he makes faces?"

"I think that's him, yes. And he's _blond_..."

For a moment, Rei had to smile involuntarily and give her grandmother a conspiratory look. She knew about the weak spot for blondes the older woman had.

"Yes, that's Jadeite. I'll be coming in a moment."

"He's the boy who brings you home sometimes, isn't he?"

"Yes, he is. But we're not dating, grandma, we're just friends."

"Very well. I'll tell him you'll come out."

For a second, Rei considered changing clothes before she went out. But then she shook her head. That's what the dating type of girls did. She wasn't dating him, she wasn't dressing up for him. Certainly not.

* * *

"Hello, Jadeite."

He wasn't bubbling happy or raving mad any more. He looked serious and reserved, but not as lifeless or downtrodden as she sometimes saw him.

"Hello, Rei. Do you have a few minutes?"

"Yes... can we... talk?"

He nodded.

She led them to a bench in the yard that would be out of hearing range of the house.

"Look, Jadeite, I'm..."

"I'm really sorry..."

"...sorry..."

They looked at each other and smiled.

"Okay, Jadeite, before we get into one of your apology frenzies, can we say we have got it that we're both sorry for what we said?"

He nodded, the tiny reserved smile still on his face.

"Rei... there's something I want to tell you. I decided that I'm not going to date Mayumi-san. I realized that this really bothers you, and that you're probably right about me not being honest with her. And I know how important being honest is for you."

Rei was surprised. "I... I don't know if I'm right about this, Jadeite. I have issues with dating, it makes me uncomfortable, even if it's a good thing for those involved. I know you like her, and I've seen she likes you too."

"But you were really relieved when you heard I wouldn't date her..." said Jadeite, and his grin developed into a tiny smirk.

"Yes... I admit it. I mean... there is so much that could have gone wrong about this... and then there's Naru..."

"I know. I have asked the princess to arrange a meeting with me and Naru Osaka. I think I didn't ever properly apologize to her. I'll give her the stone that I have chosen for her mother."

He sighed. "I really lost it for a moment. You were right. I should have thought it through. I don't want you to think that I'm not serious with being sorry for what I did. To you, it must have looked like I forget all about it the moment I think there's a date coming up."

"Err, no. It didn't."

"Come on. I know what you think about boys and how they're ruled by the next score."

"Jadeite!"

"What?"

"I didn't think like this about you. I mean... when we're together, I almost forget you're a boy. And then suddenly... I mean... I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise to me that you are..."

She blushed.

Jadeite grinned.

"Look, Jadeite... I go to a girls school. All my friends are girls. All I know about boys is how to kick them into the next wall... I guess there's a lot of things I will need to get used to when I'm around you. I mean... we're not going to stop seeing each other because of one silly fight, right?"

"Of course not. We're still friends."

"Yes. And I wasn't jealous. We're still not dating. You can date who you like."

"No. I'm not looking for dates anyway. It was a coincidence that I ran into Mayumi-san."

"Really, Jadeite, if you like her, go and see her. I overreacted. You don't have to take it so serious how I behaved."

"Yes, I do. Friendship is rare and must be treasured. I can find another date any time I like."

Somehow, Rei wasn't as moved by this as she thought she should be.

"Of course," she said. "I guess there's always a tentacled youma who's lonely..."

Jadeite gave her a shocked sideglance at first, but then he chuckled. She had never heard him laugh before, and that was a sneaky laugh that should have annoyed her, but it was so nice to see him amused.

"Don't you ever let Nephrite hear you're fancying me with a sea youma, or he'll make fun of me for several life times. And don't ever let him tell you youma jokes. Not even if he's drunk. Mind my words."

Rei grinned somewhat insecure. She had a feeling she wasn't fully grasping what was so funny and probably didn't want to know.

"Well, I'll leave that pleasurable experience to Ami then. Did you already hear what Usagi's newest plans are for Ami and Nephrite?"

She told him. He wasn't as disapproving of it as she thought, but he didn't really like it either.

"I'm sorry if it bothers you, Jadeite. I told them the Shitennou don't like the idea."

He sighed. "I guess there's nothing I can do about it. Nephrite doesn't listen to me anyway because he thinks I'm in for the same thing. 'Not dating the Senshi of Passion my ass! You must be shitting me! But thanks for taking the first blows of Kunzite and clearing the grounds, Jade...'. "

"Oh..." said Rei. "Is it a problem that you see me? Are you getting in trouble?"

Jadeite shook his head. "Not really. Nephrite owes me for it, that's good. Everyone's pretty suspicious about us, but the princess has forbidden them to interfer. Kunzite wouldn't admit it, but he's still secretly guilt-ridden for how he blew my duel with Metallia. And I hope they're all feeling guilty as hell for leaving be behind in the Dark Kingdom. No, it's really okay. 'Not dying a virgin this lifetime, Jadeite, eh?' is already the worst I got to hear."

Rei looked shocked.

"Hey, it's a joke," said Jadeite. "It's a boy thing," he added. "Don't worry about it. They just don't get it how we can't be dating."

Rei sighed.

"The girls don't get it either. I heard something similar from Minako. Something that wasn't any more tactful actually."

Jadeite smiled. "Let them. I guess the princess in matchmaking heaven will give them enough to worry about for themselves."

Rei laughed. "Yes, I've been thinking that, too. I must say I get quite some satisfaction out of the thought. We two are probably the only who can relax and simply enjoy this kind of duty."

"I guess."

"We must be doing something right."

"Yeah."


	12. Chapter 12 Jadeite is through

Minako entered the rooftop and looked around. It hadn't changed much over the years. It still looked familiar, she could still cross it with a few steps. And it still offered a great view of "Jupiter", Osaka's jewellery store.

"Sight-seeing?" she asked the boy in black at the rim of the roof who didn't taken his eyes off Osaka's shop for a second when he heard her voice in his back.

He didn't answer. Wind blew his curls around. He was suntanned, and his blond hair was bleached from the sun. Definitely a guy who spent way too much time on rooftops.

"She's using the back door. You certainly know that," said Minako.

He still ignored her.

Minako frowned. Time to stop being subtle.

"So what are you doing here, Jadeite? Trying to decide which one to cheat on?"

"Get lost."

His flat voice and his refusal to even turn around annoyed Minako more than his words.

"So this is your reception of the Senshi of Love and Beauty? If you're serious about Rei, or even Naru's mom, let me tell you that you'll fare way better with me on your side. Rei is my friend. Love is my mission. You wouldn't want me to stop this thing with you and Rei, would you?"

Now, for a short moment, he turned round and shot her a measuring glance. He didn't look very impressed when he turned back to his observation.

"Senshi of Love, huh?" he said. "I'm not looking for love." His face still was impassive, only the glittering of his eyes when he scanned customers in the street spoke of some interest.

Minako came closer.

"Everyone is looking for love," she insisted stubbornly.

A tiny smile played around his lips.

"That's true," he said. "For humans. But I'm through with being human. I'm through with love. Thank God."

For a moment, the smile reached his eyes.

"Jadeite!" Minako was shocked.

Jadeite's smile faded quickly. "And you, Senshi of Love, you will get nowhere with Zoisite if you bother me to a point where I decide I want to screw it for you. Zoisite is my friend. And you better not count on love being anywhere near my mission."

"Jadeite!"

Jadeite only sneered, and continued to watch the store front and the street. But Minako wasn't finished yet.

"So it's true that you only hang out with Rei? A girl who bears with your attitude and is breathtakingly beautiful? No second thoughts at all?"

Jadeite had returned to totally ignoring her.

"I can't believe Rei hangs out with you to listen to the crap you come up with," said Minako with a sigh. "She says you're pretty silent. I can see why this would be a clever move."

Jadeite didn't answer.

But Minako couldn't leave it at this. She came next to him, and watched the street with him. She knew he was lying to her. She always knew when someone was lying. But at the same time, she was confused. Something about this boy was very, very strange.

"Really, Jadeite," she said somewhat softer. He clearly was in denial of his situation, he probably needed the Senshi of Love more than he was aware of. "How can you say a thing like that? How can your mission not be love? Aren't you the one who's protecting his master out of brotherly feelings?"

"Sentimental girl. I attacked him with my dagger," said Jadeite. "I buried a life draining crystal in his heart and let him bleed to death slowly and very, very painfully. I went after him with a sword. I was his death, and he was mine. None of us has forgotten about it."

"You were forced to do this."

The tiny smile was there again, and it reached his eyes again for a moment. "Romantic, are we?"

That left Minako speechless for a moment. But she wasn't giving up yet.

"Through with love? How would that be possible? It was love that brought you back."

Again, his smile reached his eyes. "Hai."

"And you can still feel it."

That mad him smile even more, even if it was just for a moment.

"You don't understand, Sailor Senshi. It's true, I'm through with love, but in a good way. I found fulfilment. I have all the love that I need. I don't have a desire beyond that."

"Is that why you're such a picture of happiness?"

Jadeite sighed, lowering his gaze to the low green wall that markedt the end of the rooftop.

"It's a bit more complicated than that. Love isn't the answer to everything."

"Love IS everything."

He looked up.

"I am filled with love to every last bit of my existence. I want to give in to it, sacrifice the whole world, forget about my duties. But I can't. My life was given into the Master's hands again. Who I love as well, with all my life. But not out of choice. Love doesn't give you much of a choice, does it?"

"No."

"No. Offer me help, senshi of love, or deny it. It's all the same to me. Just don't tell me you're going to toy with me and Rei because I hurt your precious senshi pride."

"I'm not playing with love. I'm serious. Rei isn't 'through with love' yet, and you're lying to yourself if you think you are. Be very careful with her. I don't want to see her heart broken."

"... again," he completed her sentence with a smug side glance.

Minako gasped for air, then she aimed a good slap at his face.

He caught her hand in time.

Now he was angry.

"I was there," he said coldly. "On the day you died, I saw her tears and despair. Don't you lecture me on how important love is when you threw yours away like this."

Angrily, Minako tore her hand out of his grip.

"What do you know, Jadeite?" she hissed. "What do you know about living with death breathing down your neck every moment of your life, about seeing your time run out?"

Jadeite gave her a long cold stare.

"A thing or two," he finally said and turned back to his post, watching the store front.

"Because you were responsible for some of these nice revelations in others," pointed Minako out. Her rage already died down now that she had gotten a response out of him, but there was something about his stubbornness that made her lash out at him.

Jadeite took a deep breath.

"I don't need you to tell me that," he sighed. "I know that, senshi of love. Believe me, I do."

"Good!" hissed Minako, and realized she had enough of this.

She was about to turn and leave the rooftop, when she turned back again.

"I'll be watching over Rei. You better not make her unhappy."

Jadeite murmured something rude.

But only when she was gone.


	13. Chapter 13 Unspeakable

**Here's the next chapter. I have been rewriting it for days, never getting a grip of Kunzite, always trying new ideas, but now I'll stop fussing with it. It's just supposed to be a little fun in between chapter... I've also started on some very emotional scenes, but now I've got me into that guardian duty double date mess and need to do something about that as well ;D**

**One more thing: Please comment. I didn't have big plans for this, but then I continued writing because you guys liked it, so please don't leave me here halfway through. If you aren't Mystra32, Lethal-Siren or sailor-ice (who saved my faith in fankind by giving feedback), it's you I mean with this. If I want no comments, I can always work on more Night Jade creepiness which is closer to my heart. ;D *snickers at the sight of screaming and hiding readers* ;D**

**Isn't anyone in here into Harry Potter at least? ;D**

* * *

One day they found a nice place to sit at the beginning of one of the little shopping streets.

Rei realized that this wasn't the best idea when two of her classmates spotted them and came over. A confident tall one with long brown hair, and a somewhat more timid tinier one with shorter hair. They giggled way too much, and Rei knew why they shot the boy next to her all those curious glances.

Jadeite was obviously just as fascinated by their school uniforms as they were by his hair, and both sides stared at each other a lot. Rei was grateful that Jadeite at least didn't giggle. She hoped her class mates would go away quickly, but of course, they wouldn't pass such a chance to bug her.

The taller one of them spoke up.

"So this is why lately Sister Angelica is giving us all these lectures about how quickly we'll go to hell if we do unspeakable things with unspeakable persons?" she asked with a mocking smile.

Jadeite stared at them, not quite understanding.

Rei understood all too well.

"He's not my unspeakable person," she said dryly.

The girl grinned.

"Just your cousin, eh?" she asked saracastically. "Are we supposed to believe this?"

The other one chimed in.

"What a surprise... after years of you telling us not to waste our time on boys, we have to see you don't listen to your own advice," she sulked.

Rei tried to stay cool, but couldn't hold back a certain sharp tone.

"I'm not wasting time here. What business of yours is this anyway?"

The taller girl didn't let her get away so easily.

"Aw, come on, Hino-san, because of you heathen girls in class we got to hear all of Sister Angelica's detailed scary stories about young girls sinning themselves to death and damnation, and now we don't even get to see you kiss a boy? What did we have to hear it all for? At least one girl in class needs to justify all that. Come on, kiss your cousin! Do it for us!"

Jadeite gave Rei an optimistic side glance, and she shot him an angry "Don't even think of it" look back.

The girl with the shorter hair was a bit slower indeed. "Is he really your cousin? Are you related?"

"Do we look like we're related?" snapped Rei.

The girl looked doubtful at Jadeite's blue eyes and blond hair, and then at Rei's dark eyes and brown hair and the obvious lack of resemblance in their facial features. "I don't know... is it sinful to kiss your cousin?"

"Yes!" said the other classmate and nodded.

"But... if he's not a Catholic? Is he, Hino-san?"

Rei only shot her a look of contempt.

The long haired girl shook her head vigorously.

"It doesn't matter anyway. Boy is boy. Definitely immoral to make out with boys. Come on, Hino-san, do it, you're going to hell anyway, you can kiss him! Just once!"

"No!"

"You know you want to. Just one kiss... Please..."

"No! Definitely not! Forget about it!""

The girl smirked at her.

"I'm not going home without someone kissing the heathen boy. You wouldn't mind if one of us tried kissing him?"

"Sorry girls. I'm taken," said Jadeite calmly. "No kissing around in the streets for me."

"Oh. So you and Hino-san..."

"No. Unfortunately not."

"Oh."

* * *

Rei didn't want to show her surprise in front of her classmates.

So she waited until her giggling classmates were out of sight until she turned to Jadeite with an incredulous frown.

"'I'm taken'? Did I miss something?"

Jadeite smiled thinly.

"That's what we've been taught to say in public to get rid of unwanted attention. We're the Shitennou. Kunzite would never get over it if we lost our sense of decency! He's pretty suspicious about girls in school uniforms anyway, he says it's like an damn army of Sailor Senshis in the streets." He smirked. "I think he's secretly scared of the day when all at once, several thousands of them might do a cartwheel and show him their panties like you did."

"Like I did what? Sailor Senshi don't flash their panties. They're leotards."

"You mean, they have a tighter fit?"

"I mean they're not underwear. Leotards are definitely overwear."

"Leotards are definitely a weapon that should be made illegal."

Jadeite looked slightly horrified, and Rei liked that.

"Well, if they're such a good weapon, feel free to use them as well."

That horrified him even more.

"No, thanks. It's bad enough with the youma fangirls these days like it is."

"WHAT? Youma what? What do they do, squeal when they see you?"

"More howl, but yes, they do."

"Ha. Ha."

"They really do. They always did, but it's really gotten so much worse today with the upcome of the internet sprites giving them access to modern technology. Youmas are GIRLS, and of course they all have cell phones these days, and upload hundreds of crappy cell phone videos to their facebook pages on which they howl endlessly about Shitennou sightings, and what they would want to do to us if they'd ever get a hold of us."

"You are kidding me."

"Wish I was."

"It must be a joke."

"It's true. They like the t-shirt you bought me, by the way. Lots of howls."

"Thanks. Glad they at least have some taste."

Jadeite made a face.

"Of course they have taste. Why else would they go after me?"

Rei only rolled her eyes.

"You're so silly, Jadeite. So you're not taken."

"Yes, I am. By my duties."

"Which you don't kiss."

"Not necessarily, no."

"Good. Not kissing anyone else either?"

Jadeite grinned. "No."

"Good. Don't grin like that. When I go to school tomorrow and hear them all gossiping about how I make out with someone else's boyfriend in the streets, and start a big fight with them over it, then at least I want to know what it is I'm fighting about."

"Uhm. Always good to know that."

"Why are you still grinning? You think this is funny?"

Jadeite _was _grinning. No doubt about it.

"I just never thought that sitting with the senshi if passion would lead to girls falling over themselves in order to kiss me."

"Hey!" protested Rei.

"You can't deny it. That's what happened!"

"That's not what happened!"

"That is exactly what happened!"

"It's not! They wanted me to kiss you. That's different."

"How is that any different? Me sitting next to you obviously attracts kiss-crazy girls."

Rei had to keep a straight face, which was hard because that talk was so ridiculous.

"I call that wishful thinking."

Jadeite grinned.

"Well, it's totally obvious what they think you would be doing with me as soon as they see you with a boy."

Keeping a straight face became a lot easier.

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"Well, it could be them picking up the senshi of passion vibes of course. On the other hand, they know you better than I do..."

"Oh, I don't believe this!" said Rei and gave him a nudge with her ellbow, half angry, half joking. One was allowed to do that with a guy who went after you with a dagger once, right? "You must be pretty desperate if two silly girls bugging you is inflating your ego like this. But that's no excuse to start bugging me now. You take that back immediately!"

"Okay, okay, you're right. I take it back, it wasn't your fault at all. It's all my fault. Considering that I'm such a girl magnet and have this irresistible aura of a Guardian of Earth, and we all know what_ that _means..."

"What? Oh, will you stop it, Jadeite?" said Rei, but then she had to laugh.

"Afraid of the truth, senshi of passion?" grinned Jadeite. "I'm a great kisser, and these girls obviously know that just from looking at me. You would too, if you admitted to it."

That made Rei laugh again.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Jadeite? One girl deciding that kissing you is at least the second best option, and it's going to your head already?"

"She would have done it."

"No, she wouldn't. You heard her. She's thinks it's immoral."

Jadeite's grin became a smirk.

"That's the most eager ones. She would so have kissed the hell out of me. Shall I get her back and ask her to do it?"

"No! Don't mess with their heads! These girls are wicked enough already."

He tried to look disappointed, but failed.

"Just concerned about their well-being, right?" he pouted.

"A bit concerned about the state of your head as well, if you want to know the truth."

_Well, aren't we all? _Rei wondered why she was suddenly thinking about things that Kunzite would say in that situation, when she realized she had picked up his aura in the crowd. He was coming.

She grinned.

"You know, Jadeite, if you want to be kissed, it'll take a bit more than just to sit here looking pretty. You've got to do something to deserve it."

There was a slight tension around his temples that made her think Jadeite had picked up Kunzite's presence as well.

"Tell me what it is and I can see to it."

* * *

And then suddenly, Kunzite stood before them. In civilian clothes. Black suit, white shirt, no tie... no doubt he tried to blend in. But his long black hair, now falling openly onto his shoulders, and his proud, confident stride made him stand out so noticeably that it didn't matter what he wore. Rei caught some women shooting him glances and smiles. She was glad her class mates were gone already.

"Getting along well, it seems," said Kunzite instead of a greeting.

"Mm, yeah, can't complain," answered Rei innocently. "Hi, Kunzite."

"Good evening, Mars. Jadeite..."

Jadeite gave him a long look, then he got up from his seat.

"Want some coffee, Kunzite?"

"Thank you, Jadeite, I think I do."

Jadeite disappeared into the crowd, and Kunzite took his place besides Rei. His demeanor looked casual, but his face said a serious 'I want to talk to you'.

Rei didn't feel so casual.

Not enemies any more... not enemies any more...

"Can he read your mind?" Rei asked with a smile, to loosen up her tension a bit.

Kunzite chuckled. "So it seems. Having a good time, you two?"

"Pretty much, yes. Except for when he was sulking because his honor as a Shitennou keeps him from making out in the streets."

That made Kunzite cock his head in such a puzzled way that Rei decided better not to mention girls _with bare knees_ offering to smooch Jadeite.

Rei smiled. "Don't worry, Kunzite, I think he got over it."

Kunzite made a forgiving movement with his head. "Jadeite is still very young. Shitennou are well educated men, but there are things you can't teach. He has spent his youth bleeding over several battlefields, and keeping monsters company in dark caves. It'll take him a while to get used to these times."

Rei sighed. "I know. But he's doing okay."

"Yes, Mars, with you, he is. And that is no small accomplishment, considering the state he was in when we came to this world. He's doing so much better since he's seeing you."

Rei murmured an embarassed thanks.

Kunzite smirked.

"I knew we could trust you with this. After all, you're a _responsible _young woman."

This had better not meant what I think it means, thought Rei, and couldn't help being doubly embarassed.

This was probably what you got for teasing Kunzite.

Kunzite sighed. "And you will keep an eye on that Osaka situation, right?"

Rei nodded.

Suddenly, she heard something that made her blood freeze.

The Giggle Sisters were back. This time, at least they bothered greeting. Something about Kunzite reminded people of manners. He sat relaxed, but nothing escaped his attention, and those girls were aware of that. Much too aware, it seemed. And for all the wrong reasons.

"So, Hino-san, is this another of your cousins?" mocked her one of the girls while her eyelashes fluttered at Kunzite.

Kunzite sat upright and gave them a sharp look.

"No," he said. "This is the possessive and protective ex-boyfriend who stays around to make certain Rei-chan is always treated with nothing but utter respect. By anyone."

The girls froze in shock. So did Rei.

Kunzite casually leaned forward, and it took the girls less than five seconds to make a very polite exit.

"Kunzite!" hissed Rei when they were out of earshot. "What the hell? Have you got any idea of the kind of rumours you started?"

Kunzite smirked and leaned back again. "I do hope they spread the message of the respect people owe you."

"Kunzite," groaned Rei. She had a feeling that it would be quite pointless argueing with him now, and also a bit scary. But one thing had to be said. "You don't have to do that. I'm a guardian, too, and I assure you little school girls aren't what I consider a threat."

Kunzite just let out a very satisfied harumph.

* * *

Of course that was the moment that Jadeite had to turn up.

"Ex-boyfriend?" asked Jadeite with false astonishment and handed Kunzite his coffee. "Did I miss something?"

Of course he had to overhear the embarassing part.

Rei groaned and tried not to spontaneously combust.

"Just a joke," grumbled Rei. "And not a good one."

Jadeite sat on the other side of Rei.

_Not enemies any more_, she reminded herself firmly. _Not enemies any more_. It barely helped. Two not-any-more-enemies were a bit too much. It had taken long enough to get used to one of them.

"You have not been honest with me, Rei," said Jadeite and sulked demonstratively. Rei felt like smacking him again, but didn't dare in front of Kunzite.

"It seems like none of us can help running into ex-somethings on the streets these days," she replied coolly.

"Mayumi wasn't my ex-something," said Jadeite, with a nervouse side-glance to Kunzite. "She was my boss. It was a job."

"Kunzite isn't my ex-something either," said Rei. "And Sailor V has got a few things to say about your job that I won't repeat in public. In case they will turn on your girl magnet powers again and we'll have to deal with another flock of excited class mates."

Jadeite was embarassed, but also smirking to himself.

Kunzite smiled, his gaze resting on Jadeite. Rei was surprised. She would have expected another smirk, some challenging expression. Instead, Kunzite looked happy. Rei remembered Usagi's words _'The Shitennou are so worried about him.' _

Jadeite sank a bit deeper into his t-shirt under Kunzite's smile.

But he smiled, too.


	14. Chapter 14 Jadeite is a boy

**A/N: Thank you everyone for reading and giving all that encouraging reviews! Hehe, yes, I'm not a native speaker of English, I'm aware of my constant struggle with the finer detail ;D If anyone can beta read, please contact me!**

**This is a chapter that started out as a different story, but then we had this discussion about underage villains across tumblr, and it made such a great excuse for Kunzite to be mean ;D So I had to include it and thought it would fit this story well. Because for all the sweetness between the characters, it does explore some very dark depths. **

**So even if this chapter is almost fluffless, please trust me that the next chapters will make up for it. I'll love to hear what you think about this chapter, so please continue reviewing!**

* * *

_She wants to talk to me. _

_She asks me to meet her and talk about "our time". _

_She says her name is Mizuno Ami now. I'm not to call her Mercury any more. _

_I tell you a little secret, little senshi: I know very well who you are. I know Mizuno Ami better than she knows herself. _

_Don't give me that rational look. Don't give me sensible. _

_You don't want to meet me because it's the sensible thing to do._

_Because you should stay the hell away from me, little one._

_And you know it._

* * *

"You don't have to do that, Ami-chan."

Usagi took her best friend's hand and squeezed it.

"But I want to," said Ami. "I need this chapter in my life to be finished."

"Is it because of Nephrite?" asked Usagi.

Ami hesitated, and then nodded. "Before I can see him, I want to let Kunzite know that he can't interfer with my life anymore. It's just a feeling, but..."

"I can tell him that, too, Ami-chan. He listens to me when I talk to him."

Ami shook her head. "Thank you, Usagi, but this is something that only I can do. If I send you, he'll think I'm afraid of him. "

Usagi gave her a very worried look. "And... you're certain you're not afraid?"

Ami tried a little smile. "Maybe a little bit. But not enough to stop me. Besides... isn't Kunzite good now? Everyone says how much he has changed without Dark Energy. He won't attack me, I'm certain."

"No, he won't, but still..."

* * *

Ami spotted Kunzite easily from a long distance. He sat at a table in the sun, wearing a yellow shirt that failed to make him look casual, and had his hair tied back in a ponytail in his neck. He looked just the right kind of awkward to turn heads. She approached him without hesitating, and sat with him at the table, murmuring a greeting that wasn't returned. He just took a sip of coffee from his cup and shot her a glance over the rim of the cup that waked all her danger instincts.

Ami had had to promise Usagi to be extra careful, and she was nervous enough that she would have been anyway. She had chosen a public place to meet Kunzite. A busy cafe where the buzz of conversations would drown their words.

Neutral ground, and surrounded by people.

And still, his first words were:

"You shouldn't have come. You're not safe around me."

Kunzite had said it calmly, but Ami could still read him well enough to know he wasn't calm at all.

"This is not the Dark Kingdom," she said firmly. She was not going to show fear.

Kunzite smiled.

"It doesn't make a difference. The Dark Kingdom doesn't put anything into you that wasn't already there. It only uses what is inside you. I'm still the same person that I was then. And so are you."

Ami thought about how to answer this one without responding to the insult.

"I don't remember much about that time," she said. "So I don't know if that's true."

He smirked. Her calm reaction pleased him. Ami was glad to see him relax in his chair somewhat.

"So, what did you want to meet me for?" he asked.

Ami felt like she had passed some kind of test.

"We should stop avoiding each other, Kunzite. We should close that chapter of the past. And for that, we need to talk."

"Talk?"

"Yes, Kunzite. That's how it works."

Kunzite thought that one over, his eyes never leaving her face.

Ami could almost hear him think. He didn't like it.

Then he spoke up.

"I have a question for you, girl. If you want us to talk, let's talk about this. There's something that got me wondering about you, you know."

"And what is that?"

"Did you ever look at Jadeite?"

"_That_ is your question?"

She never had expected something like this. Did he want to side-track her?

"Yes, Mercury. That is my question. Did you ever have a really good, close look at him? Any of you noble senshi? Ever?"

"Why is that so important?" she asked, no, demanded to know. "And my name is Ami Mizuno."

She wouldn't show any fear or weakness in front of him. She wouldn't play the shy little girl that he had chosen for his attack.

Kunzite drilled a long, cold stare into her. Ami realized this wasn't a game, or a trick question.

Kunzite took himself time to respond. But then, finally, he said: "What a waste, such a quick brain and it runs empty. What a fool I am to think I taught you better."

She didn't move a muscle in her face, but ouch, that one was low, even for Kunzite. She still didn't have a clue what he was talking about, and that was humiliating. Had it always been like this? Had he always been able to sweep away her confidence just like that?

"Kunzite, I haven't come to hear insults," she said. "I haven't come as an enemy, or to stir up trouble. I only want to talk to you. If you have something to say, please go ahead. I'm going to listen."

"No, Mercury," he said. "_I'm_ going to listen. I asked you a question. One single question, the only question I'll ever ask you, and it wasn't very difficult. If it's not asked too much, I'd like to hear your answer."

Ami heard the hidden warning well enough. She raked her brain to come up with the answer that could satisfy him. Ami's memories of the Dark Kingdom might be blocked, but she instantly recognized every tiny move of his head. That little tilt was familiar. He was waiting.

But what for?

What was it about Jadeite that she needed to know? Had something happened between her and Jadeite while she had been in the Dark Kingdom? He did avoid her these days. But he avoided everyone these days. She hadn't seen a lot of him when he had been evil either. So what was it that Kunzite wanted to hear? Was he thinking she should have romantic feelings about Jadeite?

_'Did you ever look at Jadeite?'_ What was so obvious about him that one look was enough to detect? Jadeite was... lots of things, blond, tall, thin, grumpy, fast... what about this was so important?

What kind of a question was that anyway, Did-you-ever? A yes-or-no-question? Or not a question at all?

Ami pressed her lips together. She didn't have the answer. Once again, she felt small and vulnerable besides him. He had closed her big mouth well, hadn't he? Maybe she only imagined it, but she had a feeling he was enjoying this.

Maybe that was the answer. He wanted her to humiliate herself in front of him by admitting she was too stupid to answer a very simple question. And she would have no other choice than to do that, if she wanted to make him talk to her. He had been very clear about this.

What now? Tell him to stop playing games and leave, with her cheeks burning from shame? Or give in to him and feel used?

"No," she said. "The answer is no. I have never had a closer look at Jadeite."

Kunzite sneered. "I knew you would say that," he said coldly. "You'd hardly admit to the horrible alternative. It's so much easier if you can tell yourself you didn't know what you were doing, isn't it?"

Ami tried to breathe normal.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

Kunzite looked at her.

"I'll make this easier for you, Mercury," he said. "There is an answer to every question you might have. There is a simple explanation for everything that made you come here today. The reason why you have no real answer to _my_ question is the answer to all _your_ questions."

He paused, simply staring at her, until Ami swallowed her pride and asked, quieter than she had wanted to: "Would you... please explain...?"

Oh no, she sounded like the lost little girl again that had become his prey.

She hated herself for it, but Kunzite was pleased. He leaned back in his chair, folded his arms over his chest and his gaze softened.

"I had several good looks at Jadeite over the years," he said. "When I look at my memories of Jadeite, I see a boy who smiled and laughed, all the time. We trained him well, and hard, because we knew we needed him to be as tough as possible once the war would start. Don't think we weren't aware how young he was, but we had a demon banging at our doors, and sacrificing Jadeite's childhood for it didn't seem too bad, because there is no childhood where demons are anyway. But Jadeite never lost his ability to find amusement in the simplest, silliest things. He never lost his innocence.

I can still see it, even if he hasn't been showing this side for a long time now. Oh, don't get me wrong, I don't blame you for not seeing it. But there is one thing, one thing that is so over obvious that I will never believe, no matter what you say, that you haven't been able to notice it."

He's calling me a liar, thought Ami and somehow, this was much worse than feeling stupid, or timid.

"And that is...?"

"That is the fact that Jadeite is a boy."

* * *

That comment stopped all of Ami's self-accusations, and she stared at Kunzite in surprise. That was the point of _'the only question I will ever ask you'_?

"A boy, Mercury, not a man. He's like you are. Exactly like you, Mercury, or any of your friends. A guardian who got sucked into duty too early. It never occured to you how young he is? Really?

Mercury, when you were captured, I've seen the princess become upset over your sad fate, I've seen her desperately fight to free you from the tight hold of the Dark Kingdom. And I must say she deserved to suffer, just like you did. Because in all that time, none of you has ever lifted a finger to help Jadeite. You are five girls, and two cats. Everyone almost lost it when poor little Ami-chan had to endure the Darkness. But noone ever cared for a boy who had to endure the same? And worse?

Forget about Zoisite and me, we're big boys, we dealt with it. I don't hold it against you that you didn't waste you efforts on us. Although, you were quick enough to offer Nephrite help when he needed it. You sealed his fate by it, but you were no doubt aware that his time had run out anyway.

But why not help Jadeite, not at all, not even once?

I tried, Mercury. I really tried. I would have given my life if it had freed Jadeite. I collected energy to bring him back from crystal form, I brought him before the princess so he could be showered in the Silver Crystal's energy. I had seriously hoped that by then, your friends would have gotten some thought processes in gear, or at least finally when the Master protected the boy with his life. Seriously, what else could we have done to write it out in big flashing letters: 'Take the boy, damnit!' He would have been the most valuable ally you could ever have. Not to mention that Queen Beryl wouldn't have had the chance to send Jadeite after the Master with life draining stones or swords.

Do you think the Dark Kingdom was merciful with him, when you witnessed Beryl forcing him to hold his blade against his own throat, watching Nephrite die? Do you think he didn't have to suffer like you did, only a lot longer?

Did you know that Jadeite died the slowest and most painful death of us all? Did you know he died on his knees in the Dark Kingdom? All alone with noone else to turn to but _her_?

I don't expect you to forgive me, Mercury. I don't deserve it. But neither do you deserve forgiveness. You saw what Darkness is. You felt it, you tasted it. You cried for the precious person you didn't get to be any more. But that precious person, when she returned to the light, thought of noone but herself.

You never came back to bail out those who weren't as lucky as you had been. The one who was there and saw Jadeite's life go down the drain, saw him lose everyone and everything that had ever meant anything to him until not even his life remained, was me. Every single one of those memories is like ash in my mouth. That's what makes your days of Darkness so sweet to me, Mercury.

Because I tried. At least, I tried. And at least one of you got a taste of the despair you sentenced an innocent boy to."

There was nothing Ami could answer to that.

She could only stare at him, not quite understanding yet, but deeply humiliated.

When she couldn't bear it any longer, she got up and left, her cheeks burning in shame and confusion.

* * *

She didn't even pay attention to where she was going, she just needed to walk. She felt empty, she had no idea how to react to this.

A guy who had been walking next to her in a crowded street for a few minutes suddenly spoke up.

"I wouldn't have let you, you know."

It was only by his voice that she recognized Jadeite. Surprised, she turned around and stared at him. She had never seen his human form before. She saw a boy in a formal navy blue suit with a red tie, his hands in his pockets. He had fluffy brown hair, and dark eyes. Only around his mouth something reminded her of Jadeite. He looked serious.

"What?" asked Ami confused.

He didn't look at her, but walked slower when she got slower, casually keeping pace with her.

"I wouldn't have let you take me away from my Queen," said Jadeite. "You wouldn't have been able to turn me against her. I would have fought you every living second."

"But..." Ami didn't know how to say it. "But Kunzite is right, we should have tried."

"No." Jadeite walked faster, and now it was Ami who had to keep pace. "You shouldn't have tried. This was my path, and I needed to walk it to the end."

"Kunzite said you lost everything."

"Mm, that's okay..." said Jadeite. "It had to be this way. The Master once had turned duty into betrayal and death. He had set us on the path to Darkness. And where he sends me, I go. And I'm not doing half-ass jobs."

"Jadeite..." was all Ami could say to that. She wanted to say how sad this was, how wrong, how she wished it had be different.

"See, that's the difference between Kunzite and me," continued Jadeite. "Kunzite will never accept defeat. Never. Don't try to make him. It killed him to see he couldn't stop me from embracing the Darkness. Now he wants to lay the blame on you. That's silly. Never been your job to babysit the Shitennou. I wanted this, I wanted this life, and this death, and this Queen."

_He lost everything... everyone... he died on his knees... _

"It must have been so hard for you there," she tried and hoped her voice was loud enough to carry over to him. "And it's not easy to come to terms with it afterwards. I know what it's like..."

Jadeite only sneered at her.

"Spare me your pity, Merc. Killed my prince, killed my leader, haunted my best friends to their deaths, and would have been ever so happy to spend the rest of my life pouring my soul into Darkness, and pushing it if it didn't go fast enough."

"Jadeite!"

"Evil to the end, Merc, and loving it. You still hate it as much as you used to do, eh?"

"I... I did?"

Jadeite grinned.

"You so did. I was everything you didn't allow yourself to be. You were in it for the fun, for being a bitch day and night. It was so much fun to toy with Kunzite and refuse him, wasn't it? But deep down inside, you knew you were like me, you wanted to be taken and destroyed and escape a destiny that would have sacficed your life for nothing all over again."

"That's a lie!"

"You loved it to have Kunzite's attention day and night, you craved it. You clawed at him at every possible occasion, provoking his reactions, and nothing about it has changed."

"Everything has changed!"

"Yeah, right. That's why you ran to him as soon as you had something going on that would annoy him."

"No!"

"You wanted him then, and you still want him now."

"No! No I don't!"

"Then why don't you leave him the hell alone?" snapped Jadeite. "Why look at him with these puppy dog eyes and wave for his attention? I tell you something, Merc, if this makes him come after you, I'm going to stand by and applaude. I hope this time, the one who gets messed up for it will be you."

"Jadeite!"

"I'm so sick of your games, Mercury. If you mess this up, you're going to hell!" he hissed between clenched teeth, and with one sideway step vanished into the crowd.


	15. Chapter 15 Elf of goodness

**A/N: I've been into a writer's block with many stories lately. With this one, what we'd need at this point would be the girls making sense of things, taking action, something. But I can't make it work. So in order not to get stuck forever with this story, I'll skip this part. I'm sorry about it, and I think it should be there, but for now, I have to do without.**

**I'm glad I can submit some more chapters now, you've been awesome with reviews, hope you like the new stuff too. I have so many ideas for this!**

* * *

The senshi were all waiting for Ami's return in their room at Crown. They were worried already when she was late, but almost scared when she finally came in, slowly, pale, her eyes tearless and dull. She didn't look anyone in the eye, just let herself hesitantly down on her chair.

"I'm a horrible person," she said meekly, her gaze on the table.

"Ami-chan!"

"Am I really so selfish?" she asked. "Is it my fault he is like that? Do I manipulate others? Just for attention?"

Usagi and Makoto quickly reassured Ami of how wrong that was, how ridiculous, but she didn't seem to hear them.

"Come on, Ami," said Minako. "You can't believe a word of what Kunzite says. He just wants to make you feel bad about yourself so he can shove you around."

Ami shook her head.

"It wasn't Kunzite who said that. It was Jadeite."

* * *

_(Here belongs the part that got skipped - sorry again.)_

* * *

Rei had half expected Jadeite not to turn up the next day, but he sat on his favourite bench at the cemetary, in the Shitennou outfit even, waiting for her. He looked quite grumpy.

"Jadeite, have you been mean to Ami?" asked Rei sternly.

"Yeah," he answered without hesitating and shot her a grim look.

"Why? She hasn't done anything to you."

Jadeite jerked his head to the side. "She'd better be prepared to have a lot of shit coming her way if she tries to crack Kunzite."

"What are you talking about? Why would she want to crack anyone? She only wants to clear things between her and Kunzite. Don't you think that's a good thing?"

"A good thing for her, huh? 'Give me Nephrite or I'll bring the old times down on you so hard', yeah, isn't that a good thing? Because we all know how likely it is that Kunzite will back down? Why would it ever be bad to have Kunzite fight Nephrite again?"

"What the hell is wrong with you guys? She came to offer peace and a fresh start. She didn't come to pick a fight."

"Oh, she didn't? Yeah, it must be a coincidence she comes and brings up the past now that Kunzite and Nephrite have started yelling at each other again because of her. Must be goodwill to stir up the times when they were duelling each other over her all the time. Don't give me the innocent sweet Ami-chan shit. I know what she's really like. She's pitted them against each other before, and she's doing it again."

"Jadeite!" Rei wasn't going to take this kind of talk from a guy who had told Ami to go to hell. "You're wrong! Ami is only trying to sort out things."

"She's not! And stop yelling at me!"

"Who's the one who's yelling here?" yelled Rei.

"You!" yelled Jadeite.

"But that's your fault!" yelled Rei back. "For your information, I've known Ami for a long time, and I know her a lot better than you do, and if I say she's not intending any harm to anyone you can well believe it!"

"Ha! I've known Mercury longer than you do, and you might think you know her because she gives you a lot of smiles, but I've shared a subspace dimension with her and her damn smiles, and I'm telling you, it wasn't pretty. And I've known Kunzite for thousands of years, and I'm not going to watch anyone messing him up again just for the fun of it!"

"Seriously, Jadeite, what the hell? What the hell is the problem with you guys that you can't take an outstretched hand that offers peace?"

"I don't like this kind of peace. I don't want her around."

"Did anything happen between you and Ami? What is it with the two of you?"

"Nothing. I just don't want her around Kunzite."

"Why don't xou leave th..." started Rei off to set a few things right at the top of her voice, when a sudden realization hit her, and she could only add a lame "...oh..."

"What is 'oh'?" asked Jadeite suspiciously.

"Just oh," said Rei, still somewhat surprised.

Jadeite made a face, and the mixture of guilt, pouting, suspicion and disgust on his face made Rei laugh.

"Come on, Jadeite," she grinned. "Smile for me, will you? I need to apologize to you, but I can't do that if you make such a face."

"Err... what?"

His look of confusion made Rei laugh again.

"Smile!"

He looked like he had bitten into a lemon.

"No!"

"Smile!"

"No!"

"Aw, Jadeite, come on... please!"

Jadeite frowned. "So you suddenly don't have a problem with it that I don't like your best friend?"

"I would if I was thinking this was about Ami. But it's all about Kunzite, right?"

Jadeite looked away and made another face. "What else?"

"Okay, Jadeite, listen, noone is interested to see Kunzite snap and detonate all over the place, so your attempts at babysitting him are well appreciated. Only tune it down with Ami, please, okay?"

"Hm."

"Or some angry senshi are going to teach you manners."

"Hm!"

"The first of them being me."

That at least gave him some first doubts, judging from the side-glance he threw gave him a cold look back.

"I wouldn't push my luck if I were in your place. You and Kunzite are going to hear from Usagi about this anway."

Jadeite jerked his head to the side without commenting on that.

"Hm. And Kunzite is not going to snap... I just..."

Rei sat next to him and smiled at him warmly.

"You're just worried about him?"

"Yeah."

Rei's smile grew wider. "Kunzite would be so embarassed if he could hear you."

Now Jadeite grinned slightly. "Perhaps..."

"Still it's kind of surprising that between you two, you're the mother hen and Kunzite is the little chick."

That made Jadeite chuckle to himself. "I told you. He's our little piece of fluff."

"You guys are nuts," said Rei and shook her head. She leaned back against the back of the bench and enjoyed the sunlight. This really was a place to leave all worries behind. After screaming at everyone who gave you worries.

"We need to find a better place to yell at each other," she sighed. "This yelling around on cemetaries has to stop, or we get thrown out of the place."

Jadeite shot her a side glance, but said nothing. For a while, they did their favourite thing, which was doing nothing and enjoying sun was shining, flowers were around, trees rustled in the wind, the faint sound of traffic hummed. Everything was like it always Jadeite cleared his voice.

"Ahm, thank you, by the way, for not bringing up a discussion about what Kunzite said to Mercury."

"Wouldn't dream of it," replied Rei coolly. "Didn't hear of anything worth discussing anyway. A pretty lame excuse, if you ask me. And I don't like guilt trip scenes, as you should know by now."

Jadeite smiled for a moment, but then his face turned serious again, and he looked to the ground again in the way that Rei had come to dislike.

"Please don't feel bad about the Dark Kingdom, Rei," he said. " I wouldn't have depended on you girls to leave if I had wanted to. I made a choice to stay there. It was selfish, and stupid. But I stand by it. I'm glad I made it. This new life wouldn't be possible if I had unfinished business from over there following me."

"I... I think I get the general idea," said Rei hesitating. "But it's asked a lot that we should be happy that we left you behind, no matter the personal importance. There's still a hundred things wrong with it."

"It's the Dark Kingdom. Things being wrong was the whole point of it really, or why else would we have been there?" He didn't take his eyes off the ground, and sighed deeply. Rei was a bit worried he might be heading into another flashback, but couldn't think of something to distract him.

"We failed," said Jadeite gravely. "We had sworn to fight to protect Earth. I don't know what happened back in those times. My head hurts like hell when I try to remember, and the others tell me I am better off not knowing, and that I can't change what happened anyway. But I can't help thinking that we must have botched it. That's why we got a new life of separation and misery in the Dark Kingdom."

Rei sighed very deeply. "Jadeite, could it be you're reading too much into it? You, and Kunzite, too? You could just say that bad thing happened, and you were in the middle of them. You don't have to find reasons for them to be justified. Maybe the Dark Kingdom wasn't meant to be punishment for you, maybe you didn't deserve it at all."

"Only I think I do," said Jadeite. "The prince I should have protected died. The planet I should have guarded was destroyed."

Rei frowned. "I have enough of this, Jadeite! If you are saying that the whole Dark Kingdom was meant to be, then you are saying that all the people you hurt were meant to be hurt as well, and you would lose your most important reason to be sulking, and what would you do then?"

Jadeite smiled the tiniest smile. Very well, thought Rei, at least he's listening.

"And listen, Jadeite, it was the senshi's duty, too, to guard Earth. If you say we failed, then why wasn't I there to keep you company in the Dark Kingdom? Why would the blame only be on you guys, not on us as well?"

Jadeite surfaced from the gloom of his self-accusations long enough to shoot her a side glance. "You must have done better," he said.

Rei shook her head. "The planet we should have guarded was destroyed. Twice. My princess died alone. Twice. If that's not failing my job, then I don't know what is. But suffering for it won't change a thing. What good would that do to anyone? Do you think the Earth of the past will be any happier about being destroyed from you having an unhappy next life in the Dark Kingdom?"

"It wasn't unhappy," murmured Jadeite. "Just... difficult."

"Difficult," said Rei dryly. "You called it a life of misery. But not quite unhappy, and perhaps a bit difficult?"

"Something like that."

"Jadeite, you're not making sense."

"I know. But I can't help thinking we had to go through this so we would learn from it."

"In case the destruction of Earth wouldn't be significant enough to trigger some insight?"

Jadeite smiled his tiniest smile."I'm a slow learner. I need lots of repetitions."

"Well, in that case you got at least one more destruction of Earth to learn from. I hope another one won't be necessary," said Rei.

"I hope so too."

"Well, at least we senshi are a bit faster and I think we got the message by now, so if you guys need to be taught some lessons, you only need to say the word."

"Thanks," said Jadeite gloomily.

"Please make sure to tell the other Shitennou."

"Can't wait."

_Not unhappy? Jadeite, what made you happy in the Dark Kingdom? _

Rei wanted to ask him, but she couldn't bring herself to say it.

* * *

She looked at him, at his profile that was so familiar to her now. The sun was making his horrible hair shine like gold. My goodness, he still hangs his head for things other people have botched. It was unbelievable how dense this boy was. In a very weird way, it was cute...

"Althouuugh..." she said slowly, in a way that made Jadeite quite suspicious. Rei ignored his questioning side glance and continued: "I kind of wonder what it would have been like, you know. Just imagine we would have done it... pulled you out from there and made you one of us... got ourselves our own little elf of goodness while Ami was doing the death fairy thing... hmmm... Sailor Blondie?"

Now every square inch on Jadeite's face tried to frown at once.

"Eew... and that's Sailor Eastern Earth if you don't mind..."

"Aw, just imagine, some daily dose of silver crystal shower..."

"Hey, that hurts!"

"... and of course a new haircut..."

"Noone. Touches. My. Hair."

"...and some changes on your outfit to make it more interesting..."

"What's there that can be made even more interesting?" gargled Jadeite horrified.

Rei was having a great time. Payback for Ami, she thought.

"Oh, I think Venus has a hand for cute outfits..."

"Aaargh no!" Jadeite gripped his head with both hands.

"... we definitely would have made you open some clasps of that damn jacket..."

"The hell you would!"

"... and of course that undershirt had to go first thing..."

Jadeite let go of his head and crossed his arms in front of his chest, shooting Rei a grim look.

"I don't think so! Shitennou garb is all or nothing!"

"Hm, now that would have made things very easy, of course... very easy indeed..."

_"What?"_

"These are the modern times, Jadeite. Girls have needs, too, and these days we're allowed to say so. If we had made you one of us, and good on top of it, I'm sure you would have been a lot more cooperative. To match our Sailor outfit, you would have had to go more physical. A lot. Yes."

"Hrmph! Definitely, dying in the Dark Kingdom has been the better fashion choice."

"I heard you look smashing in green."

"I look smashing in everything."

Rei grinned and opened her bag to take out the two cans of not-for-dating soft drinks she had brought.

"Haven't seen you in everything yet, so I can't confirm that really."

She handed Jadeite his drink, and he accepted it, and the silent peace agreement that came with it. He still was sulking though.

_Like you hadn't brought this upon yourself,_ thought Rei merciless, took a sip of her ice tea and smiled at him.

"Say, Jadeite... speaking of fashion choices... Why pink? Is it because of Hanako...?"

Jadeite shook his head.

"Roses," he said. "Our personal colors are the colors of roses. Yellow, White, Red, and Pink."

"Oh..." said Rei astonished. "That's nice. I didn't know that. So roses have a special meaning for you."

Jadeite nodded, smiling proudly, something she hadn't seen on him before."It's a symbol of life, and love, and strength. Roses have amazing magical powers. Healing and Transfigurations. Kunzite is very good at it. But we all know some. And we all have the rose leaf in our sashes. We chose the rose for us because she stands for everything that we fight for, and for everything that a demon is not."

"Then why had Beryl the same rose patterns?"

"Same Earth magic as us, and same armorer. Or perhaps just going with the style of the times. It became very popular because it looked so good on Endymion."

"So you say this petals were a fashion trend on Earth in your times?"

"Yeah."

"But you hardly have any."

Jadeite grinned. "I wasn't the fashion victim that certain people were. I went for the thorn theme. A classic, plus you can catch fish with it."

Rei stared at him, not certain if he was making fun of her.

He shrugged. "I like fish. I'm good at fishing. You wouldn't believe the stuff they expect you to eat on a field mission sometimes."

Rei was almost certain he was making fun of her. Almost.

"Okay, Jadeite," she said, "One more question. I have no idea why I'm always dragged into the worst gossiping when I'm with you, and I swear I never even talk fashion with the girls, but I need to know: Your Shitennou outfit - why is it still the same as in the Dark Kingdom? Shouldn't it have changed back by now?"

Jadeite shook his head.

"It's never changed. It's the same today as in the old days and the Dark Kingdom. I don't know why."

"I can't help it, the only conclusion I can come to is that Dark Energy or not, you guys just couldn't get any worse than you already were..." teased him Rei.

"I've been thinking the same thing," he replied.

Rei didn't like that tone on him at all.

"It was a joke, Jadeite. From what I've seen, everyone has changed a lot. Especially Ami and Kunzite."

"I don't know... I'm still the same."

Now Rei had enough and rolled her eyes. "Oh please, Jadeite, not everyone is as slow as you are! And may I point out the lack of a crystal dagger aiming at my bra, and the decrease in numbers of ugly youmas sneaking around with you? I call that a change for the better."

Against his will, Jadeite had to smile.

"Oh, I see. It's dagger jokes again. Run out of tentacle jokes, have we?"

"What?"

"I guess there's only one kind of jokes a senshi of passion knows."

_"What?"_

Jadeite smirked. "Come on, you know what these jokes are about."

Cemetary or not, Rei shoved him off the bench.


	16. Chapter 16 Sincerely sorry

Jadeite walked her home.

They were at the stairs of the shrine when a taxi stopped by them, and the back door opened to let someone get out of the car with a quite impressive display of perfect legs in expensive shoes.

Sure, Minako, thought Rei with an eyeroll, let's pretend I believe that this happened by coincidence.

"Hello, Rei-chan!" boomed Minako with much more enthusiasm that the usual greeting. She even embraced Rei, who couldn't help enjoying it even if she knew it was for show.

"My, what a pleasure to see you after such a long time," she mumbled sarcastically. She had seen her yesterday.

"Yes, sorry I'm a bit early, but rehearsals went great today so we could finish earlier. Oh, hi, Jadeite," she added chilly.

And you must have skipped dance instructions to come early enough to intercept Jadeite, thought Rei. Was that really necessary?

"Jadeite, want to come in and join us for a cup of tea?" she asked him. She hadn't asked him in before, but she couldn't just watch how Minako did her worst to make him feel shook his head.

"Thanks, but I have sword drill before patrol."

"Wow, you progressed to swords now, great for you!" chirped Minako. Jadeite narrowed his eyes and shot her a dirty look, but he didn't answer.

Rei sighed.

"Come on, Minako," she said. "Don't talk like that to Jadeite."

Minako gave her a shocked and hurt look that said how she couldn't believe her best friend was backstabbing her like this.

Oh great, thought Rei. Now they're both sulking.

"You knooow, Minako," she said, "If we senshi want to complain about the Shitennou's manners, then our behaviour has to set an example. All the time. Especially around Jadeite, because he's a slow learner and needs lots and lots and lots of repetitions."

"Hey!" complained Jadeite.

"So you need to behave around him for a long time, a very long time, before you can safely bitch on him."

"Hey!" complained Minako.

"So first, I want you to apologize to Jadeite for that remark."

_And for meddling with my choice of friends_, she added silently.

"Hey!" Minako wasn't thrilled at all, but Rei just stared her down very firmly.

"Okay, okay, I'll do it," said Minako with a huge sigh.

"Listen, Jadeite, I'm sorry for saying this like you were a beginner at swords. After all, we all know you can do quite some damage with a sword already. So what I said wasn't true."

"Minako!" yelled Rei. She didn't even have to see the pained look on Jadeite's face to know Minako had struck home.

"What? It was a compliment."

"It wasn't! Minako, I'm serious about the example we have to set up in this! I want you to do a decent apology! A really good one! Don't tell me this is the best you can do."

"It's okay, Rei," said Jadeite grimly. "She doesn't have to force herself to be polite if that's such a problem."

"Jadeite!" Rei couldn't believe he had to butt in the second Minako was getting a grip of herself.

"It's not a problem, not at all," said Minako and put on a big smile. "Of course I can apologize with all due consideration."

"Glad to hear that," said Rei with a dangerous glint in her eyes. "Especially as Jadeite is so sorry about what he did wrong, and so sincere about redeeming himself that he has agreed to let you pick an outfit for him. Isn't that nice?"

"HEY!" Lemon biter face, Rei noticed with grim satisfaction.

"And now think of how you treated him, Minako. Shouldn't you do better?"

The business grin of the idol was replaced by the lopsided mischieveous grin of the true Minako.

"Oh, you're totally right, Rei, what was I thinking? Of course I need to be nice to Jadeite who is such a good boy and always sorry for the things he messes up. And such a cutie, on top of it," purred Minako and stepped close to Jadeite. Very close. She put that idol sparkle into her eyes, and smiled the angelic poster girl smile, and Jadeite didn't retreat but watched her in fascinated suspicious confusion.

"Maybe it's time I see you with Rei's eyes, little warrior, eh?"

Jadeite still looked skeptical, so she gave him another extra nice smile."I'm _so_ sorry," she said, and then she raised to the tips of her toes and kissed him.

Only their lips touched, but Minako put all she had into that kiss.

Jadeite was way too surprised to end it, and it was a furious yell from Rei that made them stop.

_"Minako!"_

With visible regret, Minako parted from Jadeite, turned to Rei and asked:

"What, was it still not nice enough?"

"I told you, no kissing Jadeite!"

Jadeite unconsciously wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and shot Rei a disgusted look.

"Wait a minute, you've been talking to her about kissing me?"

"I've been talking to her about not kissing you. And see how necessary it was."

Minako grinned, not looking guilty at all.

"Come on, Reiko, someone finally had to!"

Jadeite fully turned to Rei and eyed her accusingly.

"Why does this kind of thing always happen when I'm around you?"

Minako didn't like to hear that at all.

"What, this happened before?"

"No," said Rei.

"Yes," said Jadeite disgusted. "When I'm hanging out with her, every girl tries to kiss me!"

"What?" squealed Minako, half laughing at Rei's horrified and Jadeite's sulking expression, half furious. "_Mars Reiko!_"

"That's not true!" protested Rei. "That's just wishful thinking!"

"Happened again right now!" grumbled Jadeite. "Damn senshi of passion powers!"

"You wouldn't look so guilty if you wouldn't hide _things _from me, Mars Reiko!" said Minako firmly. "I want to hear everything about it!"

"Ha!" was all Rei had to say about took her by the arm and led her to the stairs of the shrine.

"Don't make me ask Jadeite for details, Rei. See ya, dagger boy!"

Rei shot Jadeite an apologizing look, shrugged and let herself be taken away by Minako.


End file.
